Very rarely do I give books 1-2 stars, but for me unfortunately this was one. I had major issues with it. The story was awful, and the writing was confusing. I don’t even know what this was. But it was not for me. It was…. Something.

I enjoyed the few ghost stories and the historical homesteading aspect. But the rest of it was just too much for me.

The beginning started off awesome. Why did she start the fire? What’s going on? But it was a totally different book after the first chapter.

It should have been one genre, not multiple. And BOTM shouldn’t advertise it as a horror. It’s not. 🙄

Victor LaValle knows history. Author of a number of sterling titles, including the Lovecraftian deconstruction The Ballad of Black Tom, LaValle tackles the ugly legacy of America, refusing to shirk from the depictions of racism and sexism that continue to affect the country to this day. Lone Women, his latest novel, brings the reader to 1914 in a blend of historical fiction, gnawing dread, and irresistible prose.

Adelaide Henry is a woman on the run. Carrying a secret trunk wherever she goes, Adelaide holds to the secret it contains. A secret that might have killed her parents and others, for whenever the trunk opens, people have a disturbing tendency to vanish. Adelaide intends to take advantage of the government’s offer of free land in Montana to any who can cultivate it, becoming a homesteader. But secrets have a way of catching up to their holders.

The best way to describe LaValle’s style is “tense.” But from the very start of the book, LaValle immerses the reader in absolute dread. Adelaide is not merely on the run from her past, she carries it with her wherever she goes. As a single Black woman in 1914, Adelaide is subject to some of the worst prejudices of the day but refuses to cow under them. Making herself the guardian of a dark secret, Adelaide attempts to safeguard what she brings with her, intending that no others be lost, least of all her neighbors. But she may not be the only woman struggling with demons.

LaValle’s mastery lies in his characters. Each is a fully, beautifully fleshed out human being with hopes, fears, dreams, and flaws. Nobody is fully innocent, but all attempt to build their own destinies and fates in worlds that seek to deny them. Adelaide is a woman seeking redemption, doing her best, and the absolute emotional core of the novel.

The book’s pacing is ponderous, letting the reader soak in the horror they experience. The strong characterization keeps Lone Women going and above all, LaValle compels us to experience the strength a lone woman brings with her.

I had a vague idea of what I was getting into with Lone Women, but holy twists and turns. This is a story that is filled with strong female characters. Adelaide leaves her family farm in a hurry and travels to Montana to start over. She only packs a steamer trunk that is suspiciously heavy...and causes big problems when opened.

Without spoiling things or giving the secrets of the story away, Lone Women read fast because I needed to know what was happening. It was filled with unexpected friendships and situations that both made me a little nervous and compelled me to read more than I planned. Strong women, the cold hard west, and a lot of intrigue will keep you reading way past your bedtime. (but only in the daylight for me!)

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley and am voluntarily posting a review. All opinions are my own.
I’ve heard great things about Victor LaValle as a Black thriller/horror author, and I found Lone Women intriguing enough to give it a try. And while it’s definitely one of those WTF-inducing reads that I’m not sure I entirely get yet, that’s absolutely a good thing in this case. LaValle expertly combines historical fiction and thriller/horror, using supernatural elements to help magnify the issues plaguing the town, including the many sins of the townsfolk.
The book begins with a bang, and while there are some meandering moments in between, it contributes to the slow building tension and questions around Adelaide and her mysterious trunk. And I love how deeply personal the demons that follow Adelaide around in the trunk are, especially given how deeply intense the opening was, and how her secret of what happened in her past with her family impacted her in multiple ways.
While Adelaide is the central character and the most developed, there are other characters, some of whom get their own POVs. While I was initially concerned they wouldn’t be as developed, I came to appreciate what they added to the overall concept of the narrative
This is a wild genre-bending read, and I’d recommend it if you enjoy a blend of historical Western fiction, fantasy, thriller, and horror.

Wow. Okay. This was awesome. Victor LaValle has impressed me before, and I entered this book with cautiously high hopes… only to be blown away by this incredible tale.

It's 1914 and Adelaide Henry arrives in Montana, with nothing but a bag of possessions and a trunk full of secrets. She begins a new life, shedding the sins of her past, making friends, learning to live off the land. And then the trunk is opened and bad things start to happen… 😬
So… what's in the chest? You'll just have to grab a copy and find out! 📦

This book was fantastic. Like, beautifully crafted, perfectly paced, with the creation of characters you truly care about.

My only complaint was that I wanted more! There were no loose ends and no unfinished pieces of the puzzle but I devoured this book too quickly 🤭

I'd highly recommend this one to LaValle fans, those who love historical fiction with a twist, and even those who just want to break out of their box and read something truly unique.

Thank you so much NetGalley, Victor LaValle and Random House Publishing Group for providing me with a free copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review!

I immediately bought into Adelaide and her struggles from page 1. Sure, something horrible and mysterious had happened to her parents, but she was someone I could root for: tough, motivated, and ready to survive.

The question of "What's in the trunk?" haunts the book for quite some time, and when you get the answer it's quite explosive.

My favourite parts had to have been the realisticness of rugged life on the Montana claims (it felt both immersive and well-researched), the inclusion of real world intersectionality without erasing people that were present, and the way that - yep - the supernatural exists in this world too.

I sometimes struggled with the style of how the writing sometimes keeps us a hand away from being inside the character's heads (at times I wasn't sure if it was third person POV or omniscient), and the overall pacing of the plot was different - not a problem, but different. While the chapters were short and it was easy to blaze through piece by piece, the revelations came at interesting points and a lot of chapters began with that stepped-away voice.

Regardless, this was a really enjoyable, well-researched book. And I was very pleased to see that LaValle writes women so well! I feel like this is the sort of book that could crossover to non-horror readers too - so if the concept of a Black woman surviving on the plains of Montana (and everything that entails) appeals to you, pick this one up!

I received an advance reading copy from Netgalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

I wanted to like this book, I really did. The opening scene is powerful and impactful. After that it turned to meh for me. Adelaide kills her parents and burns the house down. Then she drags a huge trunk with her as she heads to settle as a lone homesteader in Montana. The trunk is filled with secrets - that could be costly. I found the book slow moving and full of not so hidden agendas. The character development was lacking - but I feel intentionally so and it backfires. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early review.

Fantastic, genre-crossing appeal. I feel comfortable recommending this one to a range of patrons. It’s wonderful when an author shares their source material / references. Also, love that he admits to getting accepting advice on the ending from his wife. Already reading another Lavalle book - started within minutes of finishing Lone Women.

LaValle is a writer of literary horror and after loving his previous book "The Changeling", I was happy to receive an ARC of his newest book :"Lone Women." Lone Women is is literary fiction, historical fiction and horror all explored in an interesting story about women's rights, racial equality and how places in the United States were founded and built. Set in the year 1912, the story is about a woman named Adelaide Henry. We first meet Adelaide when she is setting fire to her house, with her already dead parents inside. We understand that Adelaide felt this was something she had to do as she has a secret and this secret both informs and changes her life and the lives of people around her. Adelaide has a terrible burden, one that she carries in a large steamer trunk.

Adelaide and her family live in California, where African-American families were allowed to homestead and build farms. Knowing that she will be suspected of killing her parents, she decides to move someone she cannot be easily located. Taking advantage of a loophole in the law that allows any "person" to obtain a plot of land for homesteading in Montana, Adelaide decides to set up a new life for herself in the new frontier, one in which she might be able to carry her burden and to survive.

Adelaide arrives in the small, windswept and barren looking town by train and is surprised to find herself welcomed by a woman in town and she quickly finds out that she is not the only lone woman in the area. Homesteading is difficult, Adelaide has little in the way of resources and she learns she cannot survive without making friends with others as was always the way in small towns. She is afraid that the thing locked in her trunk will destroy her relationships but she has a fierce desire to live and she like many a woman before her, does what she needs to survive. The 'secret' in the trunk may be a literal horror or it may represent the burden women carry, especially women of color. She frequently thinks of her mother saying "women are the mule" and she understands this to mean women must always be strong and do things for themselves and their loved ones that the men cannot.

I loved the friends Adelaide made including Kate, a fierce mother who loves and defends her different seeming child, Bertie who brews beer and hangs with the men and Fiona, Bertie;s love. Adelaide has a rough time and her secret causes many problems but she never gives up and I enjoyed seeing her find her way to thrive and to love in the wild west. Highly recommend this book which is a wonderful twist on male dominated western stories. Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for a copy of this ARC in exchange for a review.

Ever read a book that just sits with ya? Stays in your bone marrow and simmers? That’s what this one did for me. A genuine sense of familial and female rage that can only come from someone familiar with eldest daughter syndrome. A story filled with things some of us wished society would allow. Filled with stories of misfits and misplaced leadership, and a general feeling and wonder of if the author meant this as a map for those of us feeling left out and abandoned by this ongoing political hellscape. I’m in awe of this book and so very glad it found me.

I received this eARC from NetGalley and the publisher in return for an honest review.

Anything I try to write about this book will be inadequate. It’s so good and it really should be read and experienced, not read about.

The prose has a languorous quality at the same time almost anything could happen at any moment. The Montana landscape and weather are an unrelenting presence: “She could hear the Montana wind again; it howled as it crept up the side of her cabin and looped under the roof, then crashed down to chill the room.” But, “As vast as the land could seem, it shrank in comparison to all the he—that anyone–kept within.” Secrets and the pasts of assorted characters are one by one revealed until it all comes together: “History is simple. And the past? The past is complicated.”

Victor LaValle is consistently one of the most fascinating and unique voices in horror today, and his highly anticipated new novel LONE WOMEN is not only a great return to scary form, but it also is a great historical fiction novel that takes on the horrors of American Expansion for marginalized groups, and a Western that turns the idealized tropes of that genre on their heads to make something grim and damning. I loved the slow burn dread as Adelaide moves from her family farm in California to become a homesteader in Montana, leaving behind a burning house and bringing a trunk with a lock on it and lots of unease around it. I loved how we slowly got a reveal on it and how well done the reveal was (I'm not going to go into details). I also loved the real life horrors of being a woman on the frontier, whether you are a woman of color like Adelaide, a single mother like her neighbor Grace, or WOC lesbians like community members Bertie and Fiona, and how they all have so much to surmount in the prairie, but also in the community of powerful people with agendas, or vagabonds with violence on the mind. It all comes together to tell a great story about supernatural and real life scares.

LONE WOMEN is probably my favorite work of LaValle's at this point. It was worth the wait to be sure.

Blue skies, empty land, and enough wide-open space to hide a horrifying secret. Adelaide Henry is a woman with a past and a mysterious steamer trunk. It’s always locked and never out of her sight because when it is, people start to disappear.

The year is 1915 and Adelaide has been forced to flee her family farm in California for the plains of Montana. As a ‘lone woman’ she can take advantage of the government’s offer of free land for any homesteader who can tame it. Only Adelaide isn’t alone. And the secret she’s spent 31 years keeping inside is now threatening to reveal itself.

The early 1900s, a woman forced to leave her home after a tragic loss, a monster out for blood. I leapt at the chance to read an early copy and, much like Adelaide’s secret, devoured it immediately.

I went into this expecting capital-H Horror. Instead, despite an actual demon gracing its pages, it’s the atmosphere that really drives the story. The thick darkness of night that lanterns can barely penetrate. The terror that comes with an early winter when you’re already behind on stockpiling food and wood. Being an outsider in a tight-knit town that protects its own.

LONE WOMEN features multiple POVs (always a plus for me): Adelaide; the secret; Grace, a schoolteacher whose community has turned away from her and her child; Joab, a boy born into a life of crime under the tutelage of his mother and older brothers; Bertie, a saloon-owner and the only other Black woman in town; Mrs Reed, the wealthiest woman around who once held a secret of her own; Fiona Wong, Bertie’s young lover and a woman desperate to locate her father’s grave so his bones can be laid to rest at home in China.

I read this one during a stormy, grey day and that only added to my enjoyment. Tense, highly entertaining, with short chapters that kept me flipping the pages, LONE WOMEN was a fantastic read and I can’t wait for others to experience it!

“History is simple. And the past? The past is complicated.”

Lone Women is a story of perseverance, sisterhood and triumph of spirit. This book is a powerful piece of historical fiction, weaving in elements of mystery and horror. It reminded me of Goosebumps, but for adults. And for all of my mood readers, this is an incredibly cozy little mystery. My favorite aspect of this book was the incredibly well developed and well rounded WOMEN at its center.

When Adelaide Henry leaves California for her new Homestead in Montana, she drags her past right along with her, determined to keep her secrets buried. But as Adelaide forms relationships with an unlikely band of misfit women, her loyalty and resolve will be tested. I couldn’t put this book down. It was a fascinating tale of community, ghosts and triumph. It will leave you questioning history (and society) as you know it.

Thank you, Netgalley and Publisher, for this Arc!!!

This is a mesmerizing, dark, and unsettling story. Adelaide Henry leaves home in a rush. She may not be carrying much, but she is carrying a great amount of weight. The steamer trunk is literally very heavy, but what is even heavier are her secrets.

This story takes place mainly in Montana before it was completely settled. Adelaide travels to this huge, wide and open, freezing cold state as a homesteader. She makes it all the way there, leaving behind some secrets but still towing one with her, and faces this land on her own. Soon enough though, the steamer trunk is opened and what comes out reveals the horror of this tale.

But is this monstrous thing the true horror? Or, is true horror what lies behind a prettier, more perfect seeming facade?

I loved this! This gave me historical fiction, horror, supernatural, and thriller all at once. Not to mention the amazing attention to the lone women of that time. I loved every single thing about this book and highly recommend it!

Out March 28, 2023!

4.5 rounded up

"Queer folk, that's what they say about the Henrys."

This story opens with Adelaide Henry fleeing her California home after a tragic incident occurs. With her haunting giant steamer trunk in tow she's got a plan to get to Montana and become a "Lone Woman".

This was phenomenal and reminiscent of Frankenstein at times. I cannot wait to read more from Victor LaValle!

I received an advance reading copy (arc) of the book from NetGalley.com in return for a fair review.
The year is 1915 and after the gruesome murder of her parents in Redondo, California, Adelaide Henry travels to Montana hoping to be a homesteader. The secret she carries, however, disrupts her plans. She meets the widow Grace Price and her son, Sam, who also harbor deadly secrets. Then there is Fiona Wong and Bertie Brown who are keeping secrets of their own. Jack and Jerrine Reed, a wealthy couple who run the nearest town, also keep secrets. Author Victor La Valle brings the prairie to life while spinning a tale that blends historical fiction and horror--an unusual combination, but one that he makes work well. I enjoyed the book from cover to cover and especially liked the odd twists and turns that culminated in a story worth reading. La Valle is a master at the art of storytelling, crafting memorable characters, and not only grabbing, but keeping, the reader's attention throughout. I look forward to reading more of his work.

I received this book from the publisher through netgalley.com I am leaving this review voluntarily.

I loved how this book combined historical fiction with magical realism to create a historical horror mystery. The book sucked me in from the beginning when we find Adelaide escaping her parents farm after burning her house with her parents dead bodies in it. She knows that she will probably be accused of killing them but she knows she needs to escape. The main thing she takes with her is a large heavy trunk that is locked shut.

She is trying to find a place to escape to change her life. She finds Montana. And there she also discovers harsh winters, people who are there to help each other and some that are only willing to help as long as you fit in. Adelaide doesn't fit in. She is one of only two black women in this harsh country and the townsfolk don't seem to want to see them succeed.

With a family of swindlers on her tail she tries to make a life for herself in a small cabin alone in the country. There she finds friendship with another woman and her daughter, as well as two others in town. All lone women.

When what Adelaide is hiding escapes the trunk the countryside is turned upside down and Adelaide needs to confront her fears, accept her reality and the thing in the trunk in order to survive.

Really interested read with a feminist thread.

Lone Women by Victor LaValle is a Powerful Historical Fiction Horror. This book was so good, it was hard to put down.
Adelaide Henry sets her family home in California on fire with her dead parents inside. She flees to Montana with a heavy steamer trunk that carry’s a family’s secret and burden inside.
I definitely would recommend this book.
Thank you NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I received a digital advance reader’s copy of Lone Women by Victor LaValle via NetGalley. Lone Women is scheduled for release on March 28, 2023.

Lone Women begins with Adelaide, a black woman in the early 1900s, on her way from California to Montana. She is a woman traveling on her own, looking to take advantage of the potential free land waiting there. She is fleeing the recent deaths of her parents, and has taken little more than a mysterious heavy trunk with her. When she arrives in Montana, she finds a less than welcoming environment. As she struggles to settle as a lone woman, people around her begin to disappear and die, making her wonder if the contents of her trunk might be stirring.

For the first half of the novel, we are almost exclusively with Adelaide as she travels and begins to set up her new home. With her, we meet a variety of people, some who are temporary companions on her travel, and others who remain until the end. The novel primarily focuses on the women in this harsh part of the country, but as the story continues, we see and hear more of the men around them. For all of the characters, I would have liked more development. This is particularly true of the men. The men throughout, and the women to a slightly lesser extent, felt like outlines more than fully developed characters.

This lack of depth in character was more pronounced in the second half of the novel. Once we learn what waits in Adelaide’s trunk, the novel begins to give us perspectives of characters other than Adelaide. While this allows us to see more of the world she has arrived in, it also made it harder for me to stay invested in the story, as I wasn’t attached to the characters. I found what had been most interesting in the first half was the mystery surrounding the trunk. While we learn more about the trunk and its contents in the second half, the reveal at the midpoint took away most of the mystery, leaving the characters to deal with their current situation, which I found less interesting.

Overall, Lone Women starts with an interesting premise, but struggled to maintain interest once the opening mystery was revealed.