Lone Women

Adelaide Henry has never lived on her own, never done anything she wants to do, and has always been weighed down by her mother's mantra "a woman is a mule." Now she is free...sort of. Out from under her parents' rules, she makes her way to Montana where she will someday own a plot of land outright if she can cultivate it. This is not an easy path for a woman on her own, and even harder for a lone Black woman in 1914 with a dark secret and a heavy burden she drags along in a steamer trunk. I was totally entranced with Adelaide from page one. This is a book I would have devoured for the remarkable characters and story alone even if there wasn't any horror aspect woven into this intriguing historical fiction. I was so engaged in this story that it was almost a bonus when the horror crept in. Once I started I could not bear to put it down. Victor LaValle is a master storyteller. There is a nuance and depth to his writing style that I have rarely encountered. I'm now on a mission to collect everything he has ever written and added him to my very short list of must-read authors. I'm trying hard not to fangirl all over this review but finding it impossible not to gush about it.