The Last Woman Standing

Reviews

A New York Post Must-Read

A 2016 True West Magazine Best of the West: Western Books (Women in the West)

A Summer 2016 Hadassah Magazine Top Ten Jewish Bestseller

“The well-known historical scoundrels and lawmen of Tombstone come alive in this book, from Curly Bill and the Clantons to Doc Holliday. These men are vividly portrayed…Overall, Josephine’s voice is strong and bursting with personality. It makes for an engaging narrative.” —Historical Novel Society

“The in-depth details of life in 1880s Arizona and the larger-than-life characters who dwelled in the infamous town will appeal to readers of Westerns and women’s historical fiction alike.” —Authorlink

“Ms. Adams’ prose is fresh and smart and the feminist sensibility she gives to her subject matter makes for an engaging story. Her keen visual perception is translated into words, which in turn form pictures in our minds–a beautiful cycle of imagination and its translation. The thoughtfulness she employs to explore Josephine’s fears, motivations, and triumphs, pays homage to the gravity of her task—to portray a historical figure with emotional integrity.” —Book Club Babble

“A great flesh[ing] out to a lesser-known female Western figure, this book shines…Adams draws her readers in and doesn’t let them go.” —Montana Bookworm

“The Last Woman Standing is the best historical fiction I’ve read in some time. I’m a sucker for a plucky heroine who leaps before she looks. If you’re looking for a good Western, a good romance, or a historical retelling of the O.K. Corral, this book is for you. Adams holds your interest all the way through and gives you an in-depth look into a lesser-known historical figure behind the hero we all know.” —The Celebrity Café

“Narrated with a feminine sensibility in the voice of Josephine, The Last Woman Standing is, at its heart, a love story of epic proportions. The reader is led on an emotional journey to see if, in the end, the good guys prevail and true love conquers all.” —Atlanta Jewish Times

“This transporting novel swiftly whisks readers away to the rough-and-tumble, gritty boomtown of Tombstone, Arizona, during its heyday. Miners, outlaws, and lawmen live almost side by side, and one remarkable woman makes her mark alongside the men. Blending fact and fiction, Adams brings Josephine Marcus Earp to life with her sassy, no-holds-barred, first-person account. This is a fascinating read that will make readers wish they could join Josie on her life’s journey.” —RT Book Reviews

“The Last Woman Standing is an exciting glimpse into the life of a young woman embroiled in the violence and rivalries of Wild West Tombstone…Adams brings a uniquely female perspective to the town’s legends.” —Night Owl Reviews

“If you enjoy history and romance, danger and deceit, you will find this is a terrific book for your library. Learning more of the past through such a venue keeps you reading and searching to the very end. Adams has given us a strong and passionate story filled with historical facts, and you will find it hard to put this book down. This would be a great book for a reading or discussion group, with a great deal of interest to them both.” —BlogCritics

“There’s a great deal to be said about Thelma Adams’s book The Last Woman Standing…and all of it good. Very, very good. A feminist western mixing real and fictional characters, and totally defiling the era and prevailing attitudes of the times is no easy trick to pull off, and Adams does it with humor and, Lord help us all, charm.” —Examiner.com

“Movies, television shows, and books tell the story about lawman Wyatt Earp but very few mention his wife. Married for nearly fifty years, Josephine Sarah Marcus Earp was beautiful, gutsy, and Jewish. Thelma Adams has delved into the life and times of Mrs. Wyatt with her latest…There would be no children but an enduring love, a passion that remained throughout the decades with the hurts and the laughter told during a time in history when one man and one woman would try to tame the west and each other.” —Las Vegas Informer

“Truth can be stranger than fiction, they say. But Adams does a pretty bang-up job of blending the two while embellishing Mrs. Earp’s rightful place in Western lore.” —The Buffalo News

“Wyatt Earp dodged many a bullet, but The Last Woman Standing is a fanciful, deeply entertaining account of how Josephine Marcus got him right in the heart.” —Chronogram

“Who doesn’t want to read about the woman who married Wyatt Earp? A legend of her own, she was Jewish, beautiful, and exotic, and Adams has made her alive and kicking on the page. A Wild West story made even wilder, more poignant and inspired by Adams’s fascinating research and glittering prose.” —Caroline Leavitt, New York Times bestselling author of Is This Tomorrow and Pictures of You

“It is not merely because The Last Woman Standing takes us to a time in the past that I felt dislocated upon completing it. Thelma Adams has also taken me back to a time when we could expect a gripping and rich yarn, for lack of a better word. I found myself thinking of Doctorow and Jong and Oates, and other good writers who have taken the historical novel and given it their vast intelligence and talent and a modern-day take on their subject. This—and more—Adams has done, and The Last Woman Standing will make you think of good work done by other writers, but it is also entirely original, and a marvel. It is a book you set aside like a fine wine and wait for the chance to reopen and savor it.” —James Grissom, author of Follies of God: Tennessee Williams and the Women of the Fog