A home is never finished, it’s only saved from decay. There are two kinds of people in this world: those who live with shame, and those who die from it.

It’s 1915 and Adelaide Henry has decided to leave her parents’ farm in southern California and head north, to claim a homestead of 100 acres, a well and a derelict cabin in Montana. She takes only what will fit in her carpetbag and a sturdy trunk with a strong lock. Adelaide is also carrying a secret in that trunk, one that has haunted her childhood and now her adulthood and one from which she cannot escape.

This book defies being placed in a single genre. Lavalle combines historical fiction, horror, magical realism into a feminist manifesto that I am still trying to wrap my brain around (but in a good way). Adelaide is a strong, well-developed character, as are all of the “lone women” in this book whom she meets upon her move to Montana and who ultimately stand together and are alone no more. Adelaide begins her journey isolated from the world by her family and braves the wild open Big Sky country to try to carve out a life for herself. The town near her homestead is filled with what appear to be welcoming, friendly folk, but Adelaide finds herself an outsider within the town limits too. When she begins a friendship with a single woman and her son who live on a neighboring claim, Adelaide’s world begins to expand. In the end, she finds that all of the outcasts and loners are the ones with who she can begin to make a family, if she’s willing to open up and share the secrets of her past.

I really enjoyed this book. It is NOT at all what I was expecting. (I generally do not like books billed as “horror”, but I think in this case is more about the horror of unknown things and less like Freddy Kruger/slasher, so I was okay with it.) This is another book I read for the HRCYED.2 challenge for their award prompt. It was one of the semifinalists from the 2024 Booktube Fiction Award list and I thought I’d like it because it seemed like it was mostly historical fiction. I enjoyed it much more than I thought I would and I’m so glad I picked this one to try.

4.25 out of 5 star read