Lone Women: A Novel

This novel is billed as a feminist horror western. The oddness of that combo alone is what really real me in, and imagine my surprise when I found out that there is a history of lone women homesteading. After this novel I will be seeking out more about the subject, because it is such an interesting subject all on its own. We open the novel with Adelaide Henry and her frantic rush to douse her childhood home and parents corpses in fuel so that she can burn the entire thing to the ground. Adelaide is a black woman who has grown up in California on her parents farm. She rides off with a trunk and is headed for Montana. That's where she understands a lone woman can take advantage of the government's offer of free land for homesteaders. Her journey getting there is interesting, but by far not even close to the meat of the story. The trunk that she has brought with her (and it's contents) all the way from California is what haunts her, and at times others. She settles into Big Sandy, Montana and tries to keep her head down while she earns her land. What follows is not how she wanted her experience in Big Sandy to go. Along the way she meets some really great characters like Grace and Sam, a mother and son duo who are surviving by themselves living as outcasts in Big Sandy. She also meets the proprietor of the local watering hole called The Blind Pig, and her significant other Fiona Wong. I can't say too much at a risk of spoiling any part of this wonderfully layered novel. I love how even in the last 20 pages I was surprised by a couple of twists. I enjoyed the author's writing first and foremost, I like how he explains things and describes things without being overly wordy or in a way that feels like someone is just trying to fluff up the vocabulary of the novel. I also really enjoyed the way he made even mundane twists and turns into the novel suspenseful, I enjoy that in a book that I am expecting to be afraid of while reading. I look forward to reading some of his other works, and I'm going right now to look for more.

Content warning for body horror, death, violence, racism, murder, and related topics. This is my favorite horror book that I've ever read. I think I've figured out that I don't like psychological horror, because it feels like the reader is purposefully confused. In this, there was body horror and a spooky atmosphere, but I knew what was happening the whole time. I liked the characters in this book a lot, especially Adelaide. It lagged for me just a little in the middle, but I was so invested in finding out what was in the trunk that I just couldn't stop reading. And it's a historical fiction about strong, independent women? Loved it!

Intriguing dark magic with a touch of historical fiction

This video is what inspired me to read Lone Women: https://instagram.com/p/CqVT0WyjUME Lone Women is a speculative fiction novel about Adelaide Henry, a Black woman in her early 30s, who sets her Southern California house on fire with her dead parents inside. She departs the burning house with a steamer trunk which carries her "burden"/"curse" and heads to Montana to start a new life as a "lone woman" homesteader. Along the way she comes across a cast of diverse characters some good and some just plain evil. This book will keep you engaged from the very first page. I enjoyed how it alternated between the different characters and their respective POVs. It will catch you by surprise, so many twists and turns. Make sure that you read the Acknowledgments page at the end of the book because LaValle gives more context to the novel.

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