Lone Women; A Novel

NATIONAL BESTSELLER

Blue skies, vast land, and endless space—just the perfect setting to hide a terrifying secret. A woman with a troubled past, a mysterious trunk, a remote town, and a fresh, gripping take on the American West from the award-winning author of The Changeling.

“Propulsive... LaValle blends chills with profound 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 is always accompanied by a large, locked steamer trunk. Because when it’s opened, people around her begin to vanish.

It’s 1915, and Adelaide’s past is catching up with her. A terrible secret led to her parents’ deaths, driving her to flee California in a desperate rush. Now in Montana, she’s trying to build a new life as a homesteader, joining the “lone women” who take advantage of the government’s offer of free land—land they must tame. But Adelaide’s past isn’t so easy to escape, and the trunk she drags along may hold the key to her survival in the unforgiving landscape.

A master of magical suspense, Lone Women weaves together shimmering prose, unforgettable characters who find both horror and sisterhood in a harsh world, and a haunting portrait of early-twentieth-century America. At its core is a woman desperate to either bury her past—or redeem it.