n Shelterwood we meet two strong female characters who lived about 81 years apart. Olive Augusta Peele won my heart with her spunky, quick-witted and brave personality that helps her get through the rough decisions she has to make. From her first chapter in the book I could tell she would find a way to get to where she was going as she faced many challenges getting there.

In the early part of the 20th century, Choctaw orphan children were being adopted and abused as a means to take their inherited land and once it was procured the children were left to survive on their own in the wild. Two Choctaw children came to live in Olive's dysfunctional family consisting of a Mom who was over-medicating herself and a sinister step-father who was abusing the Choctaw children. When one of the children turns up missing Olive realizes that she has to get the younger child away from her stepfather. They begin a long journey towards the mountains that Olive's father took her to in her younger years. They meet other children along the way forming their own little family of misfits. Olive always manages to find a way to meet the challenges of her quest with her quick-thinking and industrious personality.

The contrasting story to Olive's is set in 1990 with another strong female park ranger named Valerie Boren-Odell who has moved to Oklahoma to start over with her son after the death of her husband. She meets many challenges, being the woman of the group of rangers. She has to work to prove her abilities from the get-go. She quickly falls upon a little mystery that starts with bones of three children found in a cave...a story that no one else wants to investigate. Valerie is determined to figure out the mystery behind the park and the many stories it holds. While investigating the bones she learns of the disappearance of a 17 year old boy in the park and she's determined to find out what happened to him. The story of Valerie weaves back and intertwines with Olive's story in the end. All the characters in the book were made real with the amazing writing skills of Lisa. I thoroughly loved the book and learned a little bit of history that I'd never heard of in Oklahoma's early years. It was very well researched and spun it's way into a beautiful ending.

This is the second book by Lisa Wingate that I have read, the first one being Before We Were Yours which I absolutely loved. Unfortunately this book did not have the same impact for me. Although the subject matter was interesting and a breath of fresh air, it was the characters which fell flat for me. I struggled to understand who they were or what it was that they felt. It wasn’t until the last fourth of the book that things started to come together. I definitely felt much more interested in the children’s story than Ranger Valerie’s. I would have enjoyed a deeper dive into Valerie’s background and motivations. I never developed a sense of her nor did I ever come to feel anything about her. The best part of the book were the last couple of chapters which brought everything together and full circle. The subject matter was really interesting and I feel could have had a much deeper impact had more emphasis been put on the development of the characters.

I accepted a widget of this book because I found the premise interesting and I enjoyed the author’s previous novel- Before We Were Yours. Wingate’s historical research was thorough (don’t miss the author’s note), yet the overall pacing and dual timelines-1909 and 1990-didn’t quite work for me. There were chapters that flowed and were easy to read, and others that seemed drawn out, which made it easy to put down.

I finished because I found myself invested in the characters and the mysteries. I also enjoy learning about Kate Barnard- Oklahoma’s commissioner of charities and corrections from 1907-1915. She was known as the “tiny woman with a big voice.” She was a huge advocate for Indigenous rights and used her office to help orphaned Indian children. They were often taken advantage of and left abandoned in the woods by greedy men after their money and land. Historical fiction lovers will enjoy this novel!

I have mixed feelings about Lisa Wingate’s latest dual timeline novel, Shelterwood. On the one hand, it is well researched and beautifully written. On the other hand, I found it difficult to finish. The contemporary story, set in 1990’s Oklahoma in a fictional but reality-based national. Park, is a mystery with roots in the early 20th century, which is the setting of the earlier timeline. I found the more contemporary story much easier to read, but conventional. The 1909 story is dark, emotional, and difficult. I feel that they should have perhaps been two separate novellas—switching back and forth between the two was simply too jarring. These are both stories that needed to be told, but their impact was lessened by the back-and-forth format.

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

I love Lisa Wingate’s books , this book was no exception. I learned a lot about Native Americans and their children, and how they were treated. This is a book about strength and love and never giving up!! The characters were well developed, and I want to know what has happened to them since the end of the story. The children in this book will stay with me for a long time. Thank you NetGalley for the advanced copy.

Summary: Oklahoma, 1909. Eleven-year-old Olive Augusta Radley knows that her stepfather doesn’t have good intentions toward the two Choctaw girls boarded in their home as wards. When the older girl disappears, Ollie flees to the woods, taking six-year-old Nessa with her. Together they begin a perilous journey to the remote Winding Stair Mountains, the notorious territory of outlaws, treasure hunters, and desperate men. Along the way, Ollie and Nessa form an unlikely band with others like themselves, struggling to stay one step ahead of those who seek to exploit them.

Oklahoma, 1990. Law enforcement ranger Valerie Boren-Odell arrives at newly minted Horsethief Trail National Park seeking a quiet place to balance a career and single parenthood. But no sooner has Valerie reported for duty than she’s faced with local controversy over the park’s opening, a teenage hiker gone missing from one of the trails, and the long-hidden burial site of three children unearthed in a cave. Val’s quest for the truth wins an ally among the neighboring Choctaw Tribal Police but soon collides with old secrets and the tragic and deadly history of the land itself.

Shelterwood shares the story of children abandoned by the law and the battle to see justice done. I loved the dual timelines in this book and was really invested in each part of the story. My only complaint is that the chapters are long so by the time I finished a chapter, I often had to look back to see where the previous one had left off. The author did a great job describing the setting which plays a big role in the story, and she also built a lot of suspense which kept me going even knowing the chapters were long! The narrators were amazing for this audiobook so I’d highly recommend going this route!

With the flavor of Killers of the Flower Moon, Shelterwood tells the story of children misused and discarded out of greed.
This hard truth is told from both 1909 and 1990 in the Winding Stair Mountains of Oklahoma. Ollie and Val struggle in their own times with those who would strongarm anyone in their path to power. The similarities are similar but different enough to be interesting in both eras. It also goes to prove how poorly these issues were handled and how far we still have to go.

This book is based on true events not readily known in Oklahoma history involving native children that have been exploited.

This story is very well researched, has strong female characters, dual timelines, involves a mystery, and a beautiful setting. Give it a try if you love historical fiction, stories about children overcoming hard obstacles, strong characters, or if you loved BEFORE WE WERE YOURS by the same author.

Thanks to NetGalley and Ballantine Books for the advanced digital copy of the book for my honest opinion. Highly recommend!

Hmm. I think this is a story with really good bones but lacked any substance. I found it hard to connect with Olive’s part and dreaded when I got to the end of Valerie’s part for 2 reasons: 1) I didn’t care what happened in Olive’s part and 2) barely anything happened in Valerie’s part! A lot happened off book and in the background and I feel like the book could have used those scenes. Overall - I like the idea but the execution was severely lacking. I liked the idea.. until I was reading about it and it felt like a major chore.

Another winner from Wingate! If you like historical fiction, Wingate is a must read author. She writes about pieces of history that aren’t widely known and I love learning through her characters. This was part history lesson, part mystery and I really enjoyed it. It comes out Tuesday! #newrelease #shelterwood #lisawingate #netgalley

In 1909, Olive knows her stepfather has untoward intentions toward his new wards. When the oldest girl disappears, she takes the younger sister into the woods. She's willing to risk outlaws, hunters and desperate men to stay safe, and finds other people hoping to avoid those willing to exploit them. In 1990, law enforcement ranger Valerie Boren-Odell arrived at Horsethief Trail National Park to begin her career and be a single parent. Soon after, a hiker goes missing and the burial site of three children is unearthed. Val is determined to find the truth and finds allies in the nearby Choctaw Tribal police. There are many secrets in the land, and some of them are deadly.

Each chapter of Shelterwood has the POV and which timeline is labeled, as well as a historical quote from the time period. (Something in me revolts at calling 1990 historical, but hey...) In Olive's timeline, the creepy stepfather takes steps to isolate the girls while the mother is wiped out from alcohol and opium making it impossible to stay safely in the household. She and Nessa are on the run in an Oklahoma forest, hoping that a near drowning convinces their stepfather that they died and shouldn't be chased down any further. The woods aren't safe for children, even when Olive is able to spin a story of woe to get help from kindhearted strangers in the form of food or supplies. In Valerie's timeline, the casual sexism and disrespect are upsetting, but she has no family in Oklahoma and can't afford to make waves. The good ol' boy network is fine with cutting corners and leaving things as they are, but even missing people and bodies can't be completely hushed up.

Both stories unfold relatively slowly so we don't know who the bodies of the children are. The predicament both Olive and Valerie are in is enthralling, keeping me turning pages to figure out what happened next. The stories do eventually dovetail toward the end, though not in the way you expect at first. Valerie's dogged search for the missing teen and the truth of what's going on in the county gets subtle threats as well as very real consequences for the station, but she also develops real friendships along the way.

A shelterwood is the old growth trees that protect the youngest trees and allows them to grow. Olive and Valerie in their own ways tried their best to be a shelterwood, protecting those who couldn't protect themselves. We need more people like them, and the historical figures in the story that tried to do it as well.

I really enjoyed this story! I must confess I don't know much about the history of Oklahoma, or the National Park Service. So, both of the timelines and points-of-view were very interesting to me. There is quite a bit going on in the book, but it wasn't too convoluted and it moved along at a nice pace. There were also other relatable elements like grief, and found family. I also think there is a great opportunity for a continuation of the story. I'd love to read more about the three young girls, maybe in the immediate aftermath of these events and further into their adulthood. Just wishful thinking.

For sure a slower read, but so beautiful. Seeing what these kids went through and where they ended up was heartbreaking, but Wingate does that in such an eloquent way.

This story is told in 2 time frames. The early 1900s follows the story of small children escaping from an abusive home trying to find a safe place. The late 1990s follows the story of a ranger who is trying to do her job while caring for a child and dealing with fellow workers.

Shelterwood is a dual timeline book. The 1909 and the 1990 timelines are interesting and I love that they are based on true events.



The 1990 timeline had my full attention every time I was reading it. I love that Valerie was like a dog with a bone. Once she saw that something was not right in the park, she would not let it go. I like that Valerie is a mom, her relationship with Charlie is perfect. Her love shines through and her protectiveness is fierce. I felt like Valerie is a character that was relatable and likable.

The 1909 timeline was a little more slow moving. I struggled to get invested in that timeline. The characters were children left on their own to find their way in the world. I enjoyed that they found a “family” of children to work together. It was interesting to see how they formed a level of command, a government of sorts, to keep their family intact and knowing which job was theirs to take care of.



Shelterwood is a great book, the history is rich and the story is wonderful. Lisa Wingate is an amazing author and I always look for her books.

In 1909, Olive fears that her stepfather is abusing her two Choctaw foster sisters. When the older girl disappears, Olive runs away, taking Nessa, the younger girl with her. The children soon meet up with other orphaned children, mostly Choctaw and they form a community to hide and survive. Olive keeps their hopes alive by telling them of the sanctuary called Shelterwood that they will one day create.
In 1990, Val is a park ranger, new to the Winding Stair National Recreaion Area in Oklahoma. On her first day on the job, the bones of three children are found in a cave but removed by officials before Val can properly investigate. In the meantime, a local teen boy goes missing and a John Doe is found drowned in the park. Val has her hands full with her job as well as being a single parent to her son, Charlie and she enlists help from Curtis, a Choctaw tribal police officer.
This is another great, well-researched historical fiction novel by Lisa Wingate. I really enjoyed the format of the back and forth chapters on the two timelines. The historical fiction aspect involving orphaned Choctaw children was fascinating and so sad knowing that it was based on fact. Val's portion of the story was equally entertaining as a well-written thriller/mystery. The two genres blended together well and the way the stories merged was superb. I also really enjoyed the environmental concerns presented in this book. Highly recommend!

In Shelterwood, Lisa Wingate again turns her attention to mistreated, forgotten children, but this time focuses on the state where she lived as a child in the 1970s. In “Author’s Note,” Wingate explains how, while researching for another book, she stumbled across an attention-grabbing article about Kate Barnard, a woman about whom she knew nothing. Who was this woman who found “elf children” living in a hollow tree, and who were these children? Why had Wingate, who grew up in Oklahoma, never heard of them? Fortunately, for readers, such serendipitous discoveries spark Wingate’s curiosity, and she turns that curiosity into solid research that forms the basis of her historical fiction.

Shelterwood opens with a prologue set in 1990. Back in 1962, Ada, Oklahoma’s high school state championship football team had spent countless hours hanging out in the local Dairy Queen and listening to strange stories told by a mysterious man they nicknamed Sergeant Whittles. Nearly 30 years later, two of those former players driving the area’s Winding Stair Mountains recall the spooky story Whittles had told them at the Dairy Queen on Halloween night. A few drinks and a bet later, the pair find a local man who thinks he can lead them to the place Whittles had told them about and that one of them regards as a figment of Whittles’ imagination. After climbing a mountain and coming face-to-face with a cave entrance, the believer of the pair enters as the skeptic freezes. Afterall, Whittles had told them that his childhood visit to the cave had “haunted him” from then on.

The remainder of the novel consists of thirty-one chapters and an epilogue. Set slightly later in 1990, the odd-numbered chapters center on Valerie Boren-Odell, a law enforcement park ranger at the newly opened Horsethief Trail National Park in the Winding Stair Mountains near Talihina, Oklahoma. Set in 1909, the odd numbered chapters center on a young girl, Olive “Ollie” Augusta Peele. Valerie Boren-Odell assumes her job shortly after the discovery of three skeletons in a cave. As the park’s law enforcement ranger, she sets out to solve the mystery of the skeletons and of why some of those around her seem to be ignoring the discovery. Ollie is on the run from her abusive step-father Tesco Peele, who works for the wealthy Mr. Lockridge. With Ollie is a younger Choctaw girl, Nessa/”Nessie,” who lives in Ollie’s home and whose older sister Hazel has vanished from the home. Through Ollie’s 1909 chapters, readers meet the elf children--Tula, Pinti, and Koi--as well as Kate Barnard, the woman in the historic newspaper article that sparked Wingate’s curiosity.

Reading Shelterwood, I could not help thinking of Killers of the Flower Moon, David Grann’s non-fiction account of Oklahoma’s 1920s Osage murders and the FBI agents that solved them. The two books, Grann’s history and Wingate’s historical fiction, have much in common, yet each tells a unique story set in a different part of Oklahoma, one with FBI agents to solve the crimes and bring justice to the Osage and the other with strong women to take the lead and bring justice to the Choctaw. As Wingate explains in her Author’s Note, “People should know what happened here and who fought against it.” David Grann would agree.

Thanks to NetGalley and Ballantine/Random House for an advance reader egalley of Lisa Wingate’s highly recommended new novel.

Historical fiction being my favorite genre and Lisa Wingate’s exceptional ability to tell a story by immersing the reader into the storyline made this read unforgettable. The dual storylines of early 1900’s and 1990, both in Oklahoma kept me reading much past my normal bedtime. The early storyline focuses on 11 year old Olive, escaping her stepfather while trying to save 6 year old Choctaw boarder, Nessa, from his horrific intentions. Along their route they meet many children, abandoned and living in the woods having to steal their food…so very heartbreaking. So loved the foresight and empathy that Ollie had for both Nessa and her pony.
In 1990 we meet park ranger, Val, and her son who are recovering from the tragic loss of her husband. She is thrust into a mystery involving the discovery of three small sets of bones from young females, followed by the hunt for a missing hiker. Her persistence in the path of the male dominated force was truly inspirational. Loved the dynamics between she and Curtis. The two storylines merge in a very interesting way.
The highlight for me was the spotlight placed on the appallingly shameless land grab supposedly upstanding citizens made on the children from native families. So many were treated so abysmally. I loved reading about Kate Barnard, who was instrumental in shining a light on their plight and will definitely be researching more about this amazing woman.
My favorite books are those that teach me more about history and those that make me feel a strong emotion. This read excelled with both. I felt so much anger for those that abandoned, neglected, and/or abused these young children.
Many many thanks to Lisa Wingate for bringing a sad part of our nation’s history forward, and Ballantine Books, and NetGalley for affording me the opportunity to read an arc of this just published engrossing read.

An incredible story told in two time lines. In 1909, Ollie and Nessie, a Choctaw orphan taken in by Ollie’s dad escape a life with her abusive stepfather. They run away to try and reach Ollie’s old home but along the way they encounter abandoned Choctaw children and struggle to survive in a world that does not care for them. With the help of a few adults that champion for them they are able to survive. In 1990, Valerie Boren-Odell has taken a new job as a forest ranger in Oklahoma after the death of her husband, She struggles to survive in her own right against the prejudices that come from working in a male dominant field. But when she discovers the bones of three girls in a cave she discovers that the world she lives in carries its own secrets. Another masterpiece by lisa Wingate it highlights the plight of many Choctaw children who were stripped of their lands and left to die.

2.75/5⭐️

OK, this was my first book from this author, was between a “pick” and a “so-so”, and will probably be an unpopular opinion.

A dual timeline (1909, 1990), this follows Ollie and Nessa, runaways from an abusive stepfather who are making their way to Ollie’s former home in the Winding Stair Mountains of Oklahoma. Along the way they befriend “Elf” children (orphaned Choctaw children who have been victimized for their land) and others struggling to survive any way they can.

Valerie Boren O’Dell, a newly widowed mother of a 7-year-old son, is a Law Enforcement Ranger beginning a new job near the aforementioned mountains. When human remains of 3 children are discovered in a mountain cave and a teenager goes missing, she wants to delve deeper even though she’s been warned not to. Who are the children? Why are they there and entombed as they are? Where is the teenager and why is he missing?

I wanted to like this more. And I did learn a lot about the topic of how indigenous children were exploited and treated abominably by money-hungry land-grabbers out for power and oil wealth. And I was interested to learn about the early women advocates (both political and otherwise) who championed and worked diligently to save and restore property to these impoverished children, especially little-remembered Kate Barnard, who was fascinating as a pioneer in women’s politics (or the lack thereof) at that time. Wingate is also very good with describing the despair as well as the resilience of these children and the surrounding wilderness that became their home.

But the book had a few issues for me. First, it felt too long and dragged for me, and it became more of an effort to engage with it between readings. The dual timeline chapters would abruptly leave a cliffhanger and begin at a new location next time they picked up. And there was not enough depth or background for me with some of the characters so I wasn’t as invested with them as I wanted to be. The final chapter of Ollie’s story stopped abruptly with no further first-person narrative of future events. This was summed up later in the story by another character and was “told” rather than “shown”. The tying up of loose ends at the end felt rushed up, and there was at least one implausible event…one brought about by the “villain” that felt extremely unlikely (no spoilers).

I’m sure that I’m probably being nit picky, and there are many, many others who will praise this book wholeheartedly. It was a good story, just with a few drawbacks for me.

And that cover is absolutely beautiful and fits the story so very well.

My sincere thanks to the author, NetGalley and Random House/Ballantine Books for providing the free early arc of Shelterwood for review. The opinions are strictly my own.