Lone Women Chapter 37 Summary & Analysis

⚠️ Spoiler Warning: This guide contains detailed spoilers for the entire novel. Proceed only if you've finished reading or are comfortable knowing the plot.

Summary

Adelaide returns to her cabin late at night after confessing the truth about her demon to Grace and Sam. Grace cannot accept the existence of demons, but Sam listens in silent understanding. Adelaide pushes the creature from her mind and wakes the next morning to the routine work of stuffing newspaper strips into wall cracks to keep out the wind. Bertie Brown and Fiona Wong arrive unexpectedly. Bertie, toting Poro Pressing Oil by Mrs. Annie Turnbo Malone, restores Adelaide’s battered hair into a glossy crown. During the styling, Adelaide drifts into a childhood memory of her mother, Eleanor Henry, combing her hair while Adelaide stroked her mother’s thin ankles. Fiona watches with growing jealousy, but Adelaide, lost in the pleasure of being cared for, notices nothing. Once finished, Adelaide admires her reflection with delight and cheerfully asks to go to town with the pair, blind to the tension that has tightened between the two women.

Key Events

Adelaide stuffs salvaged copies of the Bear Paw Mountaineer into her cabin walls for insulation.
She recalls confessing the full truth about her demon to Grace and Sam; Grace disbelieved, but Sam understood.
Adelaide deliberately avoids thinking about the demon or its whereabouts.
Bertie Brown and Fiona Wong arrive; Adelaide grabs her rifle before recognizing them.
Bertie sits Adelaide down and meticulously re‑styles her neglected hair using Poro Pressing Oil.
Adelaide experiences a vivid memory of her mother doing her hair, including the tactile game of stroking Eleanor’s ankles.
Fiona watches tensely from the great chair, her face falling when Bertie murmurs she missed doing hair.
Fiona leaps up and insists on leaving; Bertie tries to soothe her while finishing the style.
Adelaide’s hair is completely transformed, and she exclaims “Yes” at her reflection.
Oblivious to the strain between Bertie and Fiona, Adelaide asks to join them on their trip to town.

Character Development

Adelaide Henry: After the heavy confession, Adelaide retreats into domestic labor and the simple comfort of having her hair done. Her joy in her appearance reveals how much she craves normalcy and maternal tenderness. She remains in denial about the demon, forcing herself not to think about it. Her failure to perceive Fiona’s jealousy signals that Adelaide, even after everything, is still locked in her own need for connection.

Bertie Brown: Bertie’s hair‑care ritual is an act of deep nurturing. Her soft words while working on Adelaide show her genuine love for the craft, yet her relationship with Fiona is clearly strained. She tries to placate Fiona with gentle words but does not defend herself, suggesting she is accustomed to managing Fiona’s moods.

Fiona Wong: Fiona’s jealousy flares as she watches Bertie give Adelaide the kind of intimate care Fiona seems to crave for herself. Her rapid movements, her refusal to meet Bertie’s eye, and her insistence on leaving expose a possessive undercurrent in their partnership that Adelaide completely misses.

Grace and Sam: Though absent from the scene, their reactions to Adelaide’s truth matter. Grace’s stubborn disbelief underscores the rational world’s refusal to accept the supernatural, while Sam’s quiet understanding positions the child as an intuitive counterweight to adult denial.

Themes, Symbols, and Motifs

Truth and Disbelief

Adelaide’s confession hangs over the chapter. Grace’s inability to believe in demons, “not really,” mirrors the larger community’s struggle to accept what Adelaide knows is real. Only a child can hear the truth without flinching.

Home as Constant Labor

The cabin still leaks wind; stuffing newspaper between the boards is “not something done once but regularly.” The never‑ending work of maintaining a home parallels Adelaide’s psychological effort to keep her demonic secret from erupting.

Hairstyling as Restoration and Care

Bertie’s use of Poro Pressing Oil—a product by Black entrepreneur Annie Turnbo Malone—elevates the scene beyond vanity. Adelaide’s hair turns from “a straw hat that’s been battered by the elements” to a crown, restoring her sense of self. The ritual echoes the maternal touch Adelaide has lost.

Memory and Touch

Adelaide’s sensory memory of stroking her mother’s ankles while getting her hair combed is a visceral reminder of her childhood, full of both pain (knuckle raps) and love. The impulse to touch Bertie’s ankle shows how deeply Adelaide longs for that physical bond.

Jealousy and Misread Signals

Fiona’s silent pain is the chapter’s hidden drama. The motif of being watched—Fiona “watching her closely from the great chair”—foreshadows tensions that will inevitably boil over. Adelaide’s blindness to this dynamic suggests that her own crises may leave her dangerously unaware of others.

Why This Chapter Matters

Chapter 37 offers a vital pause. Immediately after the emotional earthquake of Adelaide’s confession, the narrative narrows to the small, intimate world of her cabin. The hair‑styling scene gives Adelaide a rare moment of uncomplicated happiness and self‑appreciation, even as the demon remains unaddressed. It also pulls back the curtain on Bertie and Fiona’s relationship, revealing cracks that parallel Adelaide’s own isolation. By the end, Adelaide is ready to rejoin community life, but her failure to see the tension around her warns that she is not nearly as safe as she feels.

Study Questions and Answers

Why does Adelaide avoid thinking about the demon after her confession?
Adelaide’s avoidance is a survival tactic. She has just unburdened herself to Grace and Sam, yet Grace didn’t believe her. By pushing the creature out of her mind, she temporarily protects herself from the terror of its possible actions and from the loneliness of being disbelieved.
What does Bertie’s hair‑styling represent for Adelaide beyond a cosmetic change?
For Adelaide, the styling is a restoration of identity and a return to a comforting maternal ritual. The memory of her mother doing her hair, combined with the physical closeness to Bertie, temporarily fills the void left by her family’s death. The hair becomes a “crown,” symbolizing dignity and resilience after the humiliation of her confession being dismissed.
How does Fiona’s behavior in this chapter complicate the reader’s understanding of her relationship with Bertie?
Fiona’s jealousy suggests that the bond between the two women is more than a business partnership, and that Fiona fears losing Bertie’s affection. Her rush to leave, her refusal to meet Bertie’s gaze, and the “briefest moment” her face sinks all point to an insecurity that Adelaide entirely overlooks. This complicates the earlier, more harmonious picture of the couple and sets up future conflict.

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