Short Book Reviews: A Wild West Thriller with a Black Heroine

 Lone Women, by Victor LaValle (One World)

In the early 20th Century, a Black woman namedAdelaide Henry sets out from California to the wilds of Montana. Like manyothers, she dreams of homesteading a much-hyped paradise. Everywhere she goes,she lugs an enormous steamer trunk…which she sings to as it makes ominousthumping sounds.

Montana turns out to be anything but a paradise. The weatheris unimaginably brutal, and the physical labor of setting up a homestead isunrelenting. Worst of all is the crushing loneliness. From practically themoment she sets foot in the shack that came with her deed, neighbors appear--womendesperate for a friend, and men equally desperate for female company andpossible courtship.

Not all the visitors are benign and they all harbor secrets.There’s a family of grifters, thieves, and murderers, whose innocent-appearingblind children are the most vicious of the lot. A single woman schoolteacher witha clouded past and a child shunned inexplicably by everyone. A lesbian couple,one Black, one Chinese. Adelaide, with her work ethic and essential decency,soon settles into the community. She’s ever anxious to protect her own secret:

What’s in the trunk? And what havoc will it wreak if itgets out?

Gorgeously written, the book alternates between passages ofemotional depth and suspense horror. Everyone hides something, and some secretsare more deadly than others. The layered unveiling of those secrets, and thecompassion of the central character are handled with exceptional skill.

Highly recommended.