Lone Women

This was my first Victor Lavalle read and from the cover and description I was expecting a western, but it was so much more interesting than that. I wouldn't classify it as horror (which is a genre I don't like at all) but there is a supernatural element that blends myth with western lore. I read it twice in a row and then went straight to my local bookstore to find more of his work.

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.