One of Amazon 5-star ratings is immediately below, followed by reviews from other sources.

"Some novels catch you off guard with their quiet power. The Last Woman by John Willingham did that for me. It’s a Western, yes—but not in a guns-blazing, whiskey-soaked sense. This is a story that moves with the ache of memory, told through the voice of a woman who has lived too long with her ghosts.

"When we meet Frenchy—once Catherine—we find her in the 1930s Panhandle, the “last woman” in Tascosa, Texas, a town that’s as haunted as she is. Her memories unfold as she writes her story in the pages of her husband’s old ledger book. It reminded me of a darker, more complex version of The Notebook. Where that story was tender and nostalgic, The Last Woman carries a pulse of dread beneath its recollections. You can feel the weight of everything Catherine remembers—and everything she can’t forget.

"Willingham’s prose is gorgeous and unflinching. His descriptions of the Texas Panhandle have a stark beauty—iron-red rivers, cottonwoods bowing in the wind, yellow broomweed marching up rocky hillsides. He captures both the grandeur and the loneliness of the land, painting it as both refuge and punishment. I could see every dry creek bed and feel the grit of dust in my teeth.

"But what struck me most was how deeply this book wrestles with the hypocrisy of so-called “godly” men and the women they sought to control. Catherine’s initial flight begins with a moment of self-defense, as she protects herself from a lecherous priest. It continues in Arkansas, where she finds work as a teacher. This time, her flight—a murder charge born from another attempted assault at the hands of a preacher—pairs her with a friend who has also endured violence at the hands of a man. Through her story, Willingham lays bare how faith, when twisted by fear, can become another weapon. “I do not fear Satan half so much as I fear those who fear him,” Frenchy recalls from her studies. It’s a line that echoes long after you close the book.

"And yet—this isn’t a story that condemns faith entirely. In a luminous scene, a nun in Catherine’s hometown offers her the kind of quiet wisdom that only a true mystic could carry. That moment, small and unadorned, saves the novel from being a diatribe against religion. Instead, it reminds us that while institutions may fail, individual faith can still be pure, compassionate, and deeply human. It’s a whisper of grace in a book filled with struggle.

"Still, this isn’t a story without light. Scattered throughout are moments of courage and grace—small, human mercies that keep the darkness from swallowing everything. Frenchy’s little library, her enduring love for Mick, the evening twilight that “had a kindness about it”—these glimmers remind us that even the hardest lives can hold quiet beauty.

"There’s also a moral complexity that lingers. Campbell Harper, determined to avenge his brother’s death, becomes a mirror of the very violence he condemns. By the time the story circles back to its inevitable reckoning, we see how justice and vengeance have blurred beyond recognition. The ending lands true, with an unexpected twist that fulfills all the book’s promises..

“The time may have come,” Frenchy reflects, “to reconcile some accounts of my own. Not matters of dollars and cents but of loving and losing and killing and surviving.” That sentence sums up what The Last Woman does so well: it doesn’t chase redemption, but rather settles into that uneasy space “where suffering and peace come together.”

"When the dust finally settles, we’re left with Frenchy alone in a ghost town—tough, weary, unrepentant. 'The last woman held the last memories,' Willingham writes. And somehow, that feels right. Not triumphant, not tragic—just honest.

"If you love historical fiction that reads like lived experience, that balances lyric beauty with raw truth, The Last Woman deserves a spot on your shelf. It’s the kind of novel that stays with you, leaving the same feeling as if The Notebook had been dusted with prairie wind—gritty, honest, and still somehow tender beneath it all."

“An Odyssey of the Old West,” Lone Star Literary Life Magazine...
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"John Willingham's latest book, The Last Woman, is an enticing novel inspired by true events and rich imagination... The novel spotlights some of the key struggles and dangers young women faced as they came of age after the Civil War and tried to start their adult lives on their own terms."—Si Dunn, a frequent book reviewer for the Dallas Morning News and author of Erwin's Law, a novel, and the Vietnam War memoir Dark Signals.

​Advance reviews from NetGalley and Goodreads...

"It would be very hard to read this book without saying WOW at the end. I'm a lover of GOOD westerns, and John Willingham has written a GREAT one. It was an emotional journey based on the real-life tales of Frenchy McCormick. We meet our MC when she's 80 as she shares her incredible story as the last woman in Tascosa, Texas, a town that earned its reputation the hard way. Willingham made it all too easy to "see" the events and hear the background music of life in 1870's Texas, when women lived a constrained life or were judged quickly by the "good" people. It's going to be very interesting to see where John Willingham takes readers next."

“…the beginning of the book grabbed my attention right away. There were several dramatic events that I wasn’t expecting at all and I literally gasped when reading them. There was no end to the surprising twists and turns and cadre of characters. Even though there are related topics of friendship and women’s independence included, which you can find in many historical novels, this one definitely stands out as a refreshing change and keeps you guessing to the end.”

“The character development stands out, with several supporting characters playing critical roles in Frenchy’s journey, especially Mamie. Mamie provided a contrasting perspective on womanhood and survival in a harsh, patriarchal world. Her spirituality and inquisitive nature offer Frenchy both guidance and occasional tension. Their dynamic showcases how women navigated solidarity amid grief, uncertainty, and other challenges, adding a layer of feminism to this story.”

“I enjoyed this novel for the characters, Catherine smart, cool, and competent, Louise sensitive, shy and determined, and Mamie, a lovely spiritual creature with pluck and common sense.

“If you like strong women and novels about the West I think you will enjoy this book. There is drama, some of it heartfelt. Frenchy and Mick McCormick were real people, and what little is known about them served as the inspiration for the novel.”