Every so often (and all too rarely) you encounter something special – a perfect read. Lone Women by Victor LaValle is that book.

I honestly think that this may be one of my favorite books ever.

The book is mysterious, engaging, and so easy to get completely lost in. It was the kind of book I didn’t want to put down. When I had to stop (yay work?), I was thinking about the book and so anxious to get back to it.

LaValle never (and I mean never) takes this book where you think it will go. Every time I thought I knew, I was wrong.

As for the characters? Iconic. Not only Adelaide, but the other women in this book and a particularly murderous family. They are so vivid!

I loved this – five stars and beyond.

• ARC via Publisher

Absolutely captivating! I adored this genre bending, gothic horror style western. Trust Lavelle to deliver a oppressive supernatural vibe woven seamlessly into a very real world atmosphere. I just love how the themes in this book force the reader to question morality, good & evil, survival, and loyalty.

Lone Women is a very interesting book. I love Lasalle's writing style and The Changeling is one of my favorites but I just didn't relate to this story as much. I wish he had leaned full horror with this story.

A handsome horror story set in historical Montana, with LaValle's immense writing gifts at the forefront. The images are stark and memorable, the characters wonderfully complicated, and the monster is the heart of the story in more ways than one. I appreciate when a monster isn't fully described, when it takes shape like a charcoal drawing, too vast to be caught in more than glimpses. Claws, yes there are claws. And wings, there, a flash of wings. But you can't see it all at once, it's in too much movement.

The side characters are realistic with stories of their own, whether we'd cast them as friends or villains alike. They are proud, they are frightened, they are doing what they have to do. The ending reflects current trends in horror writing: marginalized characters who opt out of mainstream society because they've had enough of trying to "live up" to the status quo. Who realise that this liberty they fought for was just a simulacrum of freedom, was a game that has been designed for them to never win. It's a little obvious and pat, but you are also relieved that Adelaide has finally found a life of her own.

I was sent this ARC because I requested a George Saunders ARC and this apparently had a similar vibe. It was not something I normally would have picked up, but I’m glad it was sent to me because I really liked it. Lone Women follows a woman with a secret as she leaves her home in California to homestead by herself in Montana. She has a lot of “baggage” to say the least. The novel is filled with social commentary about social bias against women of color and against queer women. This is the type of genre defying novel that I love to dive into. And it’s the type that I think I could gain even more from after a second read through. I liked the end of the book and I am going to read more of this author’s work.

Adelaide Henry left her home and boarded a steamship for Seattle. She had a large trunk with her. What could be in that heavy trunk? As she traveled to her claim in Big Sandy, Montana many people wondered what she had packed in her trunk. Even in your wildest dreams, you couldn't guess. Adelaide is naive and hasn't made any type of plan. She needs to winterize her cabin, stock up on provisions, and have a supply of firewood to keep her cabin warm. The arrival of a neighbor - another "lone woman" - provides her with company and some much needed food. Will Adelaide be able to live in this harsh environment?

Lone Women is a surprising story. It is about the inner strength of women, the bonds women form, and resilience. Victor LaValle has also added horror to the mix. He masterfully blends the elements of horror into a pioneering woman story. I don't know how he did it, but it works! The characters are intriguing and the evolution of a community in the wilderness is an excellent backdrop for the story. Lone Women is a surprising page turner from an author with amazing story-telling skills.

Okay, so this is...let me see if I can get everything in to one sentence. This is an early 20th century Western featuring a black woman homesteading in Montana while trying to hide the literal demon she brought with her when she burned her family's California farmhouse down. If not a single one of those words convinces you to read this book, you might want to have your heart rate checked because you are dead inside.

Lone Women is perfect for fans of Upright Women Wanted who don't mind a bit of horror mixed in with their feminist Westerns.

After YEARS of being unable to even finish a book, let alone finish a book in a matter of days, Lone Women has managed to wake up my love of reading. One of the most entertaining reads I've ever picked up and truly a masterpiece.
I started this book at work and I found myself constantly trying to find time to continue reading, so eager to turn each page. I read the entire book in just a few days and I was left wanting more but satisfied with the ending nonetheless.
Beautifully written, amazingly diverse characters, and one of the most memorable plots I've ever encountered. I opened this book completely blind, knowing only the title. I would highly recommend also going into this book knowing as little as possible so you can be engulfed in the mystery and mayhem that is Lone Women. This book is absolutely fantastic and I look forward to picking up the author's other works as soon as I can.

Thank you to Netgalley and publisher for an arc in exchange for my honest review.

Publication: March 21, 2023

This review falls in the minority but as my first LaValle book, I didn’t enjoy it as much as I hoped. Firstly, I’m not much for the horror genre but based on all the other pieces (ie: historical fiction, thriller).

The beginning hooked me right away and I loved the short chapters. However, there were parts that really added nothing to the story which left me frustrated.

Overall, I think horror lovers should give this book a shot but my personal preferences left me disappointed and perplexed.

What an incredible read! I was enveloped in this story from the first few pages. Books set "back in the day" are not typically my thing unless done exceptionally well...and this was one of those books.

Victor LaValle wove an exceptional story that had me feeling for each character, well, almost each because some of them were horrible people. Adelaide Henry was intriguing. The storytelling about her parents painted a picture of them (rightly or wrongly) and how she ended up in the predicament.

This was probably my favourite book of 2022 and I'll be reading more of his work in 2023. There could definitely be another book after this one (and I'd read it!)

Living in Montana is often not for the weak of heart in this modern age, let alone in the early twentieth century. This was the lesson that Adelaide Henry has to learn in the latest book from Victor LaValle, Lone Women. She comes to Big Sandy thinking that she has survived more than the average woman and that this is her escape. What she fails to consider is that new dangers can meld with old ghosts and create a mess she could have never imagined.

This story is filled with characters who seem straight forward, but continue to surprise you with their behavior. It is a story set in an unforgiving landscape which makes you cringe at the mere description of the climate and the brutality humans are capable of. However, it is also a story of finding a way to connect with others to not only survive, but thrive; and connect with all pieces of yourself, including those which you thought were monstrous. Even though I often found the pace slower then I would have liked, Lone Women is another good example of LaValle's storytelling skill and should not be missed by his fans.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the opportunity to enjoy this book.

I have mixed feelings about Lone Women. There were aspects I really liked, others I didn’t, and pieces that confused me.

The historical fiction piece I loved: Adelaide Henry, a single, Black woman headed to Montana to homestead. Reading about the advertisements for the land, the process of claiming up, and the burgeoning communities was interesting, especially from the perspective of a single Black woman. I also enjoyed the relationships: Adelaide’s friendships with Grace, Bertie and Fiona are complex and, ultimately, warm.

What I didn’t like as much: the horror aspects. I may not have fully read the preview, but I didn’t realize this book was a blend of horror and historical fiction till the demons arrived partway through the book. I like, don’t love, horror, but I prefer it to be compartmentalized as standalone horror, rather than woven in to what feels like a more realistic storyline.

Overall, I was mildly disappointed in the ending, which brought this from a 4 star read down to 3-3.5.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the advance reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

During the early years of the twentieth century, the federal government, under the Homestead Act, was still giving away parcels of land to settlers willing to work the land a certain number of years to qualify for ownership. Forty-six black families settled in Lucerne Valley, California, the Henry family one of them. One day, Adelaide Henry arranged the bloodied slaughtered bodies of her parents in their bed, set fire to the house, and, with the burden of the steam trunk, left the Valley to homestead in Montana, one of the few states lone women were allowed to homestead.

On the desolate flat plains, miles from the nearest town, she begins her new life in an abandoned cabin, struggling through her first harsh Montana winter. Distant neighbors, mostly lone women, women without men, help her. The harsh environment attracted other homesteaders with secrets, but the secret Adelaide carried were more terrifying than the Montana winter. A landscape across which towns are destroyed in various ways and left abandoned and reclaimed in biblical proportions of the Old Testament as though Joshua was sweeping across the promised land with the Israelites.

A banding of the women at the book’s apocalyptic conclusion is literary vengeance for the women of Toni Morrison’s Paradise. For readers who labels matter, LaValle’s book could be categorized under Women’s Fiction.

This is such a powerful book of loneliness and found family, of standing against prejudice and for creating a true community. It's also creepy as heck, a lot of fun, and utterly gripping.

3.75 stars, rounded up for goodreads

This is a unique book. The premise, and the horror, slowly sneaks up on you. You're given just enough information to understand the burden that Adelaide is carrying, or responsible for, but not enough to truly understand what would make her burn her home down and flee to the great nothingness of Montana. And that vagueness works in the story's favor.

LaValle doles out information regarding what is the true heart of the story in pieces and flashes. By the time you're introduced to the horror, you've almost forgotten that it is something that scares Adelaide and is significant enough to be kept locked away. Then, from the moment the horror is introduced, it sits above the story, waiting for the next moment to strike. The evolution of the reader's knowledge of this, as opposed to the other characters, truly shifts the readers perspective over time.

Along side the horror of what Adelaide has brought with her, are the horrors of living in such a desolate land. The characters are told the land is trying to kill them, and that point LaValle paints beautifully. More significantly is the idea of survival for those who don't conform. The point of this land in Montana was for women to settle, this immediately puts them at odds with the nature of things, as they're expected to survive on their own. But all of our main women are nonconformists in one way or another, and they come to rely on one another for support from those in their community who would otherwise persecute them or take what is theirs.

There is a lot to be said about the fact that much of the great horrors in this book take place as a means to protect, in some form or another.

The quiet horror story, while strong, is sometimes at odds with the rest of the story. There are times when it seems like the tone of the story was never settled on, mostly in terms of the writing. While vivid and strong, there are a few moments when choice phrases seem out of context. This could be because this is an uncorrected proof, but I'm not certain in that. Still, those moments, while a little jarring, don't do anything to deter you from the story itself.

I was also drawn to this story because of the setting. I dont know if its because I grew up playing The Oregon Trail and reading/watching Little House on the Prairie and watching Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman, but I love stories that go into the details of a settlers life. I love reading about how they set up their home, how they have to find wood for fires, or water thats drinkable. There's just something so appealing about that to me. And, especially in the beginning, this book truly drew me in with those details. Strange? Maybe. but i love it anyway!

With more plot twists than an old fashioned pretzel, Victor LaValle's latest masterpiece is a journey to Mid Western America that you'll never forget. High in the frontier-lands of Montana, a mysterious Black woman, Adelaide, arrives with a fancy steamer. As she learns more about the town, deep, dark truths begin to appear. In this thriller, no woman is what she seems..

I had no idea what to expect going into this one and it's honestly really hard to describe! A woman from a small California town with a big secret moves to a remote village in Montana. The landscapes are absolutely lyrical, the characters totally unforgettable. Magical realism at its absolute finest, and a town full of scrappy lone women who do their best to survive against all odds.

This was a great read.! I seldom use exclamations but this book took me by surprise several times and the suspense was there from the beginning. I don't want to give any clues that would reveal what is in the steamer
trunk that arrived with Miss Adelaide as she settled into her claim in Montana. The character development was excellent. I liked everything about this book.

I really enjoyed this unusual book. It’s not horror per se but a book about women, and it’s written beautifully.

Víctor LaValle does it one again.

He created and spectacular, Dark, Vivid, Historical-Horror Fiction at its best!

I been sitting on this review for some time because I did not know where to start. This novel is so fast paced that you will be unable to put down and catch up with what’s coming your way. *I was shocked*

His writing style is do addicting, the setting, the characters, the plot twists .. imagine Montana in the 1900s, Where Adelaide Henry a women in her 30s is on the run leaving her life behind.

what is she running from? You may ask…You’re gonna have to find out 😜 please do! Pick up this book when it comes out on March 2023