Lone Women - Victor LaValle
This is the first time I’ve ever read anything by Victor LaValle, something I sorely regret because I have been missing out.
Lone Women begins with our main character, Adelaide Henry, ready to burn down her home to conceal the deaths of her parents. Not by Adelaide’s hands, but by the hands of the secret she’s been hiding for her entire life. She packs up, bringing along an extremely heavy and locked steamer trunk, ready to make a new life in Montana to become one of the “lone women,” the single women who chose to tend and till the land given to them by the American government. There, Adelaide begins to build a life, but her secret could change all of that if revealed.
This book!! First, I am ashamed that I’ve never read a book by this author before because Lone Women gave me just the right amount of horror without going over the top. It’s been a while since I’ve read any horror by a Black author (please don’t take my Black card) not because I didn’t want to, but because I was trying to expand my reading to include other authors of color/genres/orientations as well as Black non-fiction books. But now that I’ve read Lone Women, I’m ready to dive into the rest of Victor Lavalle’s books as well as other Black horror authors I haven’t read.
Second, in all my years on this Earth, I have never heard of lone women. American history has been whitewashed so much and it shows because the experiences of lone women wasn’t even hinted at. This is one of the reasons I chose to request this book because it contained a much-ignored history I wanted to know more about. And thankfully, the author listed additional reading about lone women so I can learn more about them. I absolutely plan to read more on this subject.
As for the story itself, I was engaged from the very first page. Although Adelaide’s leaving for Montana was necessary, it still resonated with me because the urge to leave and start anew is what caused me to move to NYC. I wanted a new life where I could reinvent myself and make all of my dreams come true, but that came at a cost. It was the same for Adelaide because although she did what was necessary to leave her home, it came with the cost of hiding her secret or be found out. Up until it was revealed, all I wanted to know was what was in the trunk. When I did find out, I was terrified and intrigued because it was not what I thought.
The book is also about relationships between women, which are highlighted throughout. There is a scene between Adelaide and Bertie, another Black lone woman, with the latter doing Adelaide’s hair. Black women and hair go hand in hand and this scene and the silent communication between the two are extremely relatable. The author wrote that scene with the care it deserved.
The author also did a fantastic job in describing the expansiveness of Montana. I have always wanted to visit Montana because of that expansiveness. With all of that space between herself and the next neighbor over, I tried to put myself in Adelaide’s shoes, being in a new place with nothing around except the wind. Would I have had the guts to do the same if I were her? I would like to think so, especially knowing how much I like quiet and solitude.
Lone Women is a book I definitely recommend to my readers.
Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.
Content Warnings: graphic violence; gore; violent death; misgendering; forced conversion; attempted kidnapping
Where to buy: The Lit. Bar Loyalty Bookstores Amazon
Victor LaValle, author of Lone Women.
Photo courtesy of Teddy Wolff. For more information about the author, please click here.
