Lone Women

A Novel

By: Victor LaValle

Narrated by: Joniece Abbott-Pratt

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • Blue skies, empty land—and enough wide-open space to hide a horrifying secret. A woman with a past, a mysterious trunk, a town on the edge of nowhere, and an “absorbing, powerful” (BuzzFeed) new vision of the American West, from the award-winning author of The Changeling.

“Propulsive . . . LaValle combines chills with deep insights into our country’s divides.”—Los Angeles Times

ONE OF BOOKPAGE'S TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR • FINALIST FOR THE LOS ANGELES TIMES BOOK PRIZE AND LOCUS AWARD • LONGLISTED FOR THE MARK TWAIN AMERICAN VOICE IN LITERATURE AWARD

A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: The New York Times Book Review, Time, NPR, Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, Esquire, Vulture, Paste, Tordotcom, Book Riot, Polygon, Chicago Public Library, Kirkus Reviews, Library Journal

Adelaide Henry carries an enormous steamer trunk with her wherever she goes. It’s locked at all times. Because when the trunk opens, people around Adelaide start to disappear.

The year is 1915, and Adelaide is in trouble. Her secret sin killed her parents, forcing her to flee California in a hellfire rush and make her way to Montana as a homesteader. Dragging the trunk with her at every stop, she will become one of the “lone women” taking advantage of the government’s offer of free land for those who can tame it—except that Adelaide isn’t alone. And the secret she’s tried so desperately to lock away might be the only thing that will help her survive the harsh territory.

Crafted by a modern master of magical suspense, Lone Women blends shimmering prose, an unforgettable cast of adventurers who find horror and sisterhood in a brutal landscape, and a portrait of early-twentieth-century America like you’ve never seen. And at its heart is the gripping story of a woman desperate to bury her past—or redeem it.

Another great book

Victor LaValle is a master at writing horiffic books that read like fairy tales. This is now my second favorite, behind the Changeling, of his.

Great Story; Not so Scary

This book started out so well, and by the end of the first section I was deeply invested in what was going on with Adelaide and the secret of her steamer trunk. The second section, though, moved in a new direction and introduced several new characters, all of which pulled me right out of the creepy mood that had been established so brilliantly in the first section. By the end of the novel I’d pretty much forgotten that I was reading horror at all. Skipping over the climactic scene in the opera house was, I think, a mistake. That moment was built up for too many chapters for it just to be fast-forwarded past. So many spooky details throughout the second two sections were just left sort of dangling. This novel had the opportunity to be a terrific fright fest, but it ended up reading like historical fiction with just some hints at horror.

Nicely done

I enjoy the telling of this book. The storyline works for me. The storyteller is okay

A new genre for me

I loved it yet didn’t expect the twists and turns and finding myself a bit skeptical.

Best performance

Original and genre bending. One of my all time favorite Aubible productions. I’ll will by looking for more stories by the author.