Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read an ARC of Shelterwood. This book was about a subject I knew nothing about, specifically orphaned Native American children in Oklahom n the early 1900's, curiously called "elf children". It was a wonderful story of strong women handling injustice, particularly young Olive who faces a variety of challenges throughout the book, but perseveres and never gives up on protecting her younger charges.

The story was told in alternating timelines, which also included the story of a female park ranger in 1990. While I enjoyed both stories, I think I would have preferred if the book had been written in a single narrative. I found myself forgetting what happened at the end of the previous chapter.

While I found the beginning of the book to be a little slow I was very happy with the way two stories wove together in the end.

”The wealthy have the privilege of writing their own stories as they like. Tonight I will tell you what is true.”

Lisa Wingate has done it again, shining a light on the untold truths in America’s history and the ugly injustices committed against vulnerable populations. If you’re looking for your next book-club read that will inspire a discussion about right & wrong, diverse cultures, and rewriting history ethically, look no further!

”They are in danger, and so are we. No one will be safe until this thing is made public. Maybe not even then.”

Shelterwood is a tale in two timelines. First, we meet Ollie, the ringleader of a ragtag group of orphans and runaways in early-1900s Oklahoma. Ollie and her young crew are trying to fend for themselves and stay alive in a world where children, especially tribal children, are seen as commodities.

”They are children, hiding in unthinkable conditions for lack of help, for fear of men who would take them as tiny prisoners, rob them of their land estates and their very lives, all for a profit…”

Then we meet Valerie, a ranger for the national parks in the 1990s, who is trying to piece together clues from a possible crime unfolding in her park, and how it relates to what happened here in Oklahoma, nearly a century ago: a teenager is missing, a body has been found, and someone has unearthed several sets of old bones.

”Every morning, I feel more desperate. A shadow hangs over me and I worry this will be the day something bad happens.”

This was such a moving, powerful story. My heart ached for the children who were ripped from their homes, abused, and even killed as 1900s-era land barons tried to make their fortunes in dishonest, violent ways. I had no idea that this was how things worked in our country, and was horrified to learn that so much of this book was based on true events.

”We have made too many orphans, too many friendless children, too many laid young in the grave. All for a profit, can you imagine? Fortunes made from little hands and ruined bodies.”

Highly recommend this one. It reminded me of Wingate’s previous book, Before We Were Yours, in a lot of ways. Fans of This Tender Land, Take My Hand, and Damnation Spring will love this.

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A huge thank you to Lisa Wingate, Ballantine, and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

This is the story of little orphan native americans and their journey of homelessness because they were robbed. I give this book two stars, its dual timeline and the stories intersect at the end. I had a hard time finding myself getting into this. It was a little long winded at times.

Set in southeast Oklahoma among the Winding Stair Mountains, Lisa Wingate tells a gripping tale of orphan survival.

Dual story lines follow Olive in 1909 and Valerie in 1990. I was immediately engrossed in Olive’s desperate escape from her stepfather’s abusive home, taking her adopted sister Nessa along into the woods. Armed with a pack horse and her father’s lessons, Olive is determined to reach the home of her childhood on Winding Stair, where she had a happy home before her father’s disappearance.

Valerie is a single mom, struggling to fit in at her new job with the NPS. She had a stable but unfulfilling life in Missouri, but wants to advance her career.

Olive’s story is full of all the twists and turns you’d expect, but her sharp wit and determination make her a lovely character to spend time with.

Lisa Wingate always investigates an interesting, lesser known corner of our country’s history. This time she is back with a story from America’s heartland of young children living in the wilds of the early 1900s. Thank you @prhaudio for my early listening copy of SHELTERWOOD which is out June 4th.

The novel follows some early 20th century female pioneers fighting for children in the midst of land cons left and right with Choctaw women and children. It has dual POVS and timelines between the early 1900s and modern day. The modern day timeline follows a questionable murder, and the search for evidence and connections at the Horsethief Trail National Park.

This time I enjoyed the past timeline, hoping for the girls living in the wild to find success and a home. I connected more with them than the modern timeline characters, but I DID want to know what the connection was between the two story lines and that definitely fuel my reading of the novel.

Thank you to Netgalley and Ballatine Publisher for allowing me to read a copy of Shelterwood by Lisa Wingate. It has been a while since I read a book by Lisa Wingate but, I have enjoyed her writing and this one did not disappoint. I love the way she tells heartbreaking stories about children that are often neglected in writing. I am not a big fan of dual timeline stories but this writer does it with great excellence.
The characters are memorable and found touching how they are found almost a century later and a courageous forest ranger goes out of her way to solve a crime. This book was a great read and it has already been chosen for my August book club,

This split time story highlights a sliver of relatively unknown history regarding defrauding Native Americans - mostly through using and abusing their children - of their land for oil. The modern storyline focuses on the hard work done by National Park Service Rangers, especially if that Ranger is female.

Both are interesting stories that develop at a steady pace and slowly come together while trying to answer the question of whose bones were found in a cave and how did they get there. While this is a well written book, I never felt emotionally invested in the characters. There is an overall tone of sadness in both stories that leaves a melancholy aftertaste.

Overall I enjoyed the story and fans of the author will too.

Not family friendly due to subject matter.

Having read Before We Were Yours, I was a little leery of the subject matter, but I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Lisa Wingate once again shines a light on little known social injustices with a well written narrative. By telling this story from the perspective of the past and relative present, she really helps the reader immerse themselves in the story. I love that she keeps you guessing until the end!

Shelterwood by Lisa Wingate
uses dual timelines of 1909 and 1990 in the Winding Stairs Mountains. In 1909, 11 year old Olive Augusta Peele shared how she and others form a much needed family to survive. And we learn about Kate Barnard, the first woman elected to office in the new state. In 1990, Valerie Boren-Odell, a park ranger new to the area, learns about a cave with some children's bones and soon searches for a missing local.

Once again, Wingate brings to light a tragic part of US history that I didn't know about. This time, it is the horrible treatment of Chocktaw and other indigenous children in the early years of Oklahoma because of greed. I appreciate the amount of research that went into this book to have accurate details. I always enjoy the author's notes as they help answer any questions that come up while I'm reading.

Thank you to Netgalley and Penguin Random House for an advanced reader copy.

"Shelterwood is an obscure forestry term for older, larger trees that protect the smaller, younger growth beneath."

I read this book in a week that children in Gaza are being burned alive. It is heartbreaking that children's lives hold so little value among the greedy and powerful. In this novel, Lisa Wingate puts names and stories to the little-known (to me anyway) history of Native American children who had an unintentional and tragic role in the rise of wealthy white men in Oklahoma in the early 1900s. In this novel, they learn to survive and form a community, watching out for one another in the woods even though they are just children. She also highlights the women whose compassion and kindness made a difference against all odds to change a system of abuse and exploitation.

The story is told in a dual timeline in the same place 80 years later (1990). We see how past and present connect for better or worse. And how children still so often are tossed aside.

It was a hard heartfelt story and the turns of phrase were mesmerizing. Val's story in 1990 was a bit distracting. I felt like the 1909 storyline would have been better on its own. An epilogue could have brought us to the current time to tie up loose ends.

Overall, it was a good book and has important information about US history including Kate Barnard a "politician who had the broadest influence on the state’s constitution and then went on be elected to statewide office by the largest majority of any candidate on the ballot was … a woman - in an era when women couldn’t even vote."

Dual timeline set in the early and late 20th century featuring two female protagonists: one a young girl who runs away from an untenable abusive stepfather and a park ranger who is investigating the discovery of children's bones found in a remote cave in Oklahoma. Not quite as engrossing as the author's previous novel.

I fell in love with Lisa Wingate when I read Before we Were Yours, a book that still lives in my head rent free. I was so excited to receive an advance copy from NetGalley! This novel tells the story of how the strength of women and children are able to overcome so many obstacles and prevail. This novel is written in two time periods, both the 1900's and 1990's in the state of Oklahoma. We meet Ollie and Nessa and Valerie and discover their strength and willingness to survive. Make sure you pick this book up!

3.5 stars

This is a compassionate and thoughtful novel, but one that sadly failed to capture my full attention.
It may have been due to the fact that I had such high expectations for this book. I really liked two of this author's other books, Before We Were Yours and The Book of Lost Friends. Or, because like many dual timeline stories, I ended up liking one time frame better than the other. Both stories moved slowly and the threads between the two time periods were very loose, or nonexistent, for the majority of the narrative. I couldn't help but wonder, "Where is this all leading"? It is not until the end of the story that they are eventually knotted together.

I love historical fiction when it teaches me about something I didn't know, and I must give kudos to Ms. Wingate for bringing a little-known piece of history to light about the travails of an obscure female frontier woman who became a political advocate for the rights of children in the early 1900s. However, Kate Barnard played only a very small role in this story. To learn more, be sure to read the Author's Note at the end of the book, which was my favorite part.

I wanted to like this novel more than I ultimately did. I would encourage readers to definitely check out other reviews that may have seen this book differently.

My sincere thanks to Random House-Ballantine Books and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read an ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed are my own.

This was another amazing book by Lisa Wingate! She truly knows how to make you cry, but also to find hope. Ollie and Val...goodness. They will forever be in my heart. I will think of this story for many years to come.

Lisa Wingate is a master at telling stories based on true events about children. You can't help but love her writing style and feel so much emotion for the characters. They're innocent children who were put into horrible situations and are strong and persevere despite such horrible and sad circumstances! I really loved Before We Were Yours so was excited to get this ARC of Shelterwood. The story is told in two timelines, 1990 and 1909. This was also a situation I'd never known about where native children were orphaned and being forced to live in the forest to care for themselves. Kudos to Lisa Wingate for telling the stories of people who matter that we may not have otherwise even known about. Their stories need to be heard.

Shelterwood, the newest historical fiction novel by Lisa Wingate, follows Ollie (1909) and Valerie (1990). In 1909, Ollie and her Choctaw adopted sister, Nessa, flee her mother and stepfather's home when her stepfather, Tesco Peele, threatens indecencies upon Nessa. Ollie assumes the name Hazel, after Nessa's real sister who has disappeared. The two girls narrowly escape and end up joining some other children who have nowhere to call home. Together, the children form Shelterwood, a forest enclave in the Winding Stairs, where they live as an encampment for children without family.

In 1990, Valerie is a ranger with the National Park Service. She's new to the Winding Stairs area and she's a woman, so some of the other rangers don't take very kindly to her. She befriends a member fo the Choctaw tribal force, and together they work to find a young girl's missing brother.

The stories intersect toward the end of the book in Shelterwood.

This was a good story packed witth history. I am from the Northeast and did not know anything about early Oklahoma statehood, so this was interesting. I found some of the chapters a bit slow with a definite Grapes of Wrath vibe. Overall 4 stars. Thanks to the publisher, author, and netgalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Always a big fan. Love how she is able to weave historical events/people or time periods with her fiction. The characters are always really compelling and I am a big fan.

Another heartbreaking but interesting read from Lisa Wingate. It took me a bit to get hooked into the story, but I ended up liking it overall. Thank you to NetGalley for this advanced copy!

Olive knows that her stepfather does not have even the slightest of good intentions when it comes to her and the two Choctaw girls he took in. She has a plan though. After Hazel disappears, Olive know she and Nessa need to run away. With her stepfather on their heels, the two find themselves with a band of other child outlaws just tryig to survive. Meanwhile, 81 years later in 1990, Valeria has taken a new job as a Law Enforcement Ranger at the local national park. When someone goes missing, Valerie is determined to find out what is happening in these woods.

As always, Lisa Wingate writes an engaging story that brings together history and fiction in the best way. Her books always have a way of teaching me something that is both fascinating while horrifying that it actually happened, and keeping me invested in her appealing characters. I did feel like there was a lot of storylines, and I had trouble keeping track of them all at the start, but they quickly came together in the end. If you have enjoyed Wingate’s Before We Were Yours, I think you will love this book!

“Shelterwood” by Lisa Wingate is a dual timeline novel of a harrowing tale of a band orphaned children who are running from men who want to exploit them in 1909 and the women that helped to enact change. It is also about a young Law Enforcement Ranger who works to solve a mystery against all odds.

One of the reasons I absolutely love historical fiction is because it can highlight parts of history that were brushed under the rug or expunged all together in history books. This is one of those books. Wingate crafted two well developed time lines, 1909 and 1990, with their own suspense and mystery, each with well developed characters. Unfortunately it took me awhile to confirm the connection between the two timelines leaving me slightly frustrated through most of the book. This lack of clear connection caused the book to feel sluggish at times because the changes in timeline stopped the flow of the story instead of each pushing it forward independently. Despite this, each story added to the details of the story and in the end, we needed to complete a truly well rounded story.