I started Lone Women needing to know, with every fiber of my being, what's in that steamer trunk?? And I appreciate that Victor LaValle gives us the big reveal by page 80-something.
Knowing this secret only makes this book more exciting and scarier. That said, don't skip ahead. And don't read the author's acknowledgments until you've finished the book because they contain some spoilers.
As if being a lone Black woman moving onto a Montana claim purchased sight unseen in 1915 isn't terrifying enough, there's also banditry and bone-whistling winds. But I was also deeply moved by the alliance between the titular "lone women." Not to mention one of the most incredible and shocking reconciliations I've ever read.
The ending is hard-fought and immensely satisfying, too.
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 THE MOST ANTICIPATED BOOKS OF 2023: The New York Times, Time, Oprah Daily, Los Angeles Times, Esquire, Essence, Salon, Vulture, Reader’s Digest, The Root, LitHub, Paste, PopSugar, Chicago Review of Books, BookPage, Book Riot, Tordotcom, Crime Reads,…
I love a gloriously self-destructive woman protagonist. Maria has, as they say, “everything,” a perfect fiancé, a comfortable Brooklyn life, and an almost-finished dissertation. So why does she become obsessed with a poet she barely knows, to the point of stalking?
While reading this book, I kept saying, “Don’t do it,” while also thinking, “Yes, open the door, yes, get on the train.” Maria’s escalating acts made me gasp. Searing satire about 1990s biracial culture, vivid flashbacks to Stanford, and heartbreaking revelations about the Jonestown massacre only add to this story’s richness.
But what makes it so meaningful to me is how Danzy Senna defies my careless labeling of “self-destructive” and instead shows us one person’s compelling, complicated, very human reasons for pursuing a new life.
Named a BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR BY THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW, VOGUE, TIME MAGAZINE, NPR and THE ROOT
Named A 2017 BEST SUMMER READ BY
Vogue • Elle • Harper's Bazaar • Glamour • Buzzfeed • In Style • Men's Journal • Bustle • Ms. Magazine • Pop Sugar • Newsday • The Millions • Time Out • Bitch • CNN's The Lead • The Fader
"[A] cutting take on race and class...part dark comedy, part surreal morality tale. Disturbing and delicious." -People
"You’ll gulp Senna’s novel in a single sitting—but then mull over it for days.”…
I’ll start by saying this: I read the last 25 pages of this book while hiding out in the bathroom because I was supposed to be preparing for a get-together—that I was co-hosting.
Just to give you a sense of the explosive, irresistible conclusion that this book lays the groundwork for, from page 1. The character sketches got in my veins, from the members of the guerilla gardening group (the narrator makes connections between personal growth and growing plants that I still think about often) to the billionaire villain.
In fact, the latter is so meticulously drawn by Eleanor Catton that it defies the tropes we’re used to, making him viscerally terrifying.
INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER & NATIONAL INDIE BESTSELLER
“Birnam Wood is terrific. As a multilayered, character-driven thriller, it’s as good as it gets. Ruth Rendell would have loved it. A beautifully textured work―what a treat.” ―Stephen King “A generational cri de coeur . . . A sophisticated page-turner . . . Birnam Wood nearly made me laugh with pleasure. The whole thing crackles . . . Greta Gerwig could film this novel, but so could Quentin Tarantino.” ―Dwight Garner, The New York Times
The Booker Prize–winning author of The Luminaries brings us Birnam Wood, a gripping thriller of high drama and…
We’re taking the classic window box you might see in Brooklyn, Charleston, and Rome and showing how you can recreate or remix them.
My book features 16 boxes, like the “Tiny Island” box of bromeliads; “Salad Bar” box for kale, lettuce, and chard; “Edible Petals” box of enviable edible flowers; and “Sand Box” of cactuses, giving you specific plants to arrange together based on similar light and water needs.
We also show how to care for those plants, where to put your box (even if you don’t have a deep sill or heavy-duty bracketing), and how to personalize it, like mini pink flamingos among your ornamental grasses. Plus, you can scale up or down depending on your space.
