Lone Women by Victor Lavalle

I read a review that said that this book is told " in Victor LaValle’s signature style, blending historical fiction, shimmering prose, and inventive horror". Yes, that is it exactly, and at least in this case, is on the side of the underdog. The year is 1914, and Adelaide is running from a violent moment that has changed the course of her life. She is leaving Redondo, California, in a rush, ready to make her way to Montana as a homesteader. She is bringing with her the literal baggage that comes with and from that violent moment, and we as readers have no clue as to what it is. What we do know is that she is desperate to keep that baggage contained, whether it is the actual bag that she has brought with her, or the trauma that has been inflicted upon her and her family due to the circumstances that fell upon them all. There is a lot of black people and the rush to settle the west, as well as the surefire danger that women face in these circumstances, and a fresh take on the way it might have gone in a fantasy world.