Shelterwood is the third book I have read by Lisa Wingate. I was excited to get an ARC of this book because I thoroughly enjoyed Before We Were yours and The Book of Lost Friends. Unfortunately I did not feel the same about this book. I found myself drifting while reading this and not wanting to continue. The two timelines did not work together for me, I couldn’t connect to the characters and I felt like the story went off on too many different tangents. I kept loosing the main point of the story. This being said many people enjoyed this book so I encourage people to give it a try if you have enjoyed Wingate’s other books.

Thank you NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group-Ballantine for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This is a excellent historical story well crafted by the author to capture every readers imagination. Thank you to the publisher, to Net Galley and to the author for providing this ARC for review. My review opinions are my own.

I was intriqued with this story from the beginning to end. The author has a talent for building the story to her readers that keeps you turning pages into the night. This is told in dualing timelines which adds to the suspense and richly defines each story.

The location is the Winding Stair Mountains in Oklahoma. The site of much Choctaw death and abuse of the time. Families were torn apart when children were stolen from their Native American parents. In 1909 a six year old Choctaw foster child needs to save herself by running from her evil stepfather. The families eleven year old goes with her for a life on the run . They live in the wild and learn to survive. Soon they meet other children that are Choctaw who escaped abuse from forced living situations. This is history that this reader did not know and is heartbreaking how many children were forced from their parents into foster care as slaves and suffered abuse.

The secondary story is placed In 1990. A park ranger who is a new widow wants a new uneventful life for her son in the area. Her life takes a interesting turn when she becomes involved in their story unknowing that the history is long covered up. She is determined to discover why three children bodies were found and what their backgrounds were.

This is a fascinatiing read.. The author writes with compassion for her subjects and intriques the reader with the build up of their story. I loved the bravado of the children and how they managed to survive in wild lands. They deserve to have their story told and the author tells it brillantly with such compassion for the children and their lives. A excellent 5 star read that I highly recommend to all that enjoy dual timelines in historical fiction. Well done to the author,

The author does a beautiful job describing the Oklahoma mountains and history. I definitely want to explore the area! The book was written in a dual timeline format, sometimes feeling choppy. I could easily see this as two separate books - the struggles and adventures of the elf children and a park ranger and her son finding a home and exciting career in Oklahoma mountains. I loved learning about the courageous women that impacted Oklahoma history and politics.

I would like to thank NetGalley and Random House Publishing - Ballantine for the ARC.

Lisa Wingate is such an amazing author who meticulously researches the topics and time periods she writes about. While this took a little longer to get into, it really was a great story.

Full RTC!

This was a free NetGalley book.

I had high hopes for this book as Lisa Wingate is a wonderful writer however this book didn’t quite live up to expectations.

It started off well and immediately captured my attention. It begins by talking about three little girls, two of whom are Choctaw and one who is a biological daughter of a mother who has become addicted to opium.

Olive, the biological daughter has lost her father and her mother has remarried an evil man. The man is (hinted at never said) sexually abusing the Choctaw girls so Olive decides to runaway to protect them after one of them goes missing. Olive assumes she’s been killed by her stepfather.

Olive takes the girl who has become her sister and they run. They encounter one thing after another. Finding children hidden in the woods in Oklahoma who are called the elves. All are Choctaw kids who have been stolen by the government and their land is being stolen.

Interwoven into this story is another story that takes place in the 90s of a park ranger who has lost her husband and comes to OK to start over. This is where the book became confusing because it was jumping between the two stories. It would finish a chapter with a cliff hanger and you’d jump to a different time period and come back and the cliff hanger may not be answered.

There were so many characters that it became extremely confusing. In the end it is all ties together and makes sense but still was left feeling like I wanted to know more.

I received a free ARC ebook of <i>Shelterwood</i> from NetGalley in exchange for an unbiased review.

Told through two points of view and two different time frames, this novel is wonderful. In 1990, Val, a young widow with a little boy, is a National Parks ranger newly assigned to a fictional park in Oklahoma. Facing sex discrimination from her colleagues and local townspeople, she focuses on her job and her child. She struggles to leave the sadness of her husband's death behind as she makes a new life. Wingate incorporates Choctaw history in her novel as Val investigates the area for a missing teen.

The other time frame is 1909 when Ollie, just a little girl herself, runs away with her younger foster sister, Nessie. They are escaping their evil stepfather who likes to abuse little girls. Nessie's older sister, Hazel, had already disappeared and Ollie believed that Nessie would be next. Ollie is smart, inventive, and determined to get back to the home she had shared with her parents. Ollie's mother is now addicted and her father is dead. Ollie and Nessie find friends and danger in equal measure.

Choctaw children were badly mistreated since they were heirs to land that was rich in oil and timber. Many were stolen from their homes and provided legal guardians who then stole their land. Not all children survived; some became "elf children" - wild homeless wanderers with little grasp of English or their rights. Ollie meets adult women who are determined to better the lives of the elf children.

Shelterwood is the name Ollie gave to their dream home. It is also what Val seeks for her son.

Shelterwood is everything what I would expect from Lisa Wingate. I great enjoyed reading this story. It is one that I could not put down until I have it all read. Five stars.

Lisa Wingate has once again brought us an amazing yet heartbreaking historical fiction story. The story takes place between two pov's, one set in 1909 and the other in 1990. We follow the lives of Ollie, Nessa and Hazel along with other orphans making life on their own in a very dangerous time as well as area in 1909. 1990 takes us through the life of Valerie and her son Charlie. Valerie is a young widow and single mom trying to make it in life as a Park Ranger. I loved the way I was transported from each time period into the tales that were happening in each. I must say I was a bit puzzled at how it was all going to pull together, why were we reading about those particular children but in the last couple chapters it pulled together beautifully.

Thank you to NetGalley, Lisa Wingate and Ballantine Books for this arc e-version.

I loved Before We Were Yours, so I was thrilled when I received this ARC. I also thought the timing was great because the movie Killers of the Flower Moon just came out and my interest was peaked in this there of historical fiction topic.
Lisa Wingate is such a talented author and she brings out so much emotion, this story was heartbreaking.
I also love dual timelines, and this one bounces between 1909 and 1999.
I would recommend this book. 5 ⭐️

Thank you to the author and publisher for providing me with a digital ARC of this title via Netgalley in exchange for my honest review.

I have really enjoyed Lisa Wingate's previous novels and was excited for the opportunity to read her newest title, Shelterwood. This was enjoyable and interesting, but not my favorite of hers.

I received an ARC of this novel from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Terrific novel about Choctaw orphans and their brutal treatment in Oklahoma. The resilience of the children who were able to escape is inspiring.

Thank you NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for the copy of Shelterwood by Lisa Wingate. I love a good dual timeline book and this one started out great and I loved both timelines, but they went on and on and it felt like not much was happening. I appreciate how much research went into the 1909 timeline but it didn’t really pique my interest. If you love the historical storyline, this is the perfect book for you.

After reading the powerful book Killers of the Flower Moon, I was not sure I was ready to read another book about the atrocities that happened to the Native Americans in Oklahoma. I am so glad I read Shelterwood. While it is a fictional account, it is based on true situations that fell upon the children.

The book has parallel stories about children and those who tried to protect and others who harmed in 1909 and the more current time of 1990 when a new park ranger learns about children's bones found in a cave. The writing style and storyline held my attention as I learned more about the injustices that were inflicted on the Native Americans.

Definitely recommend.

What a great enlightening story! I had no idea about the elve children - Ollie, Nessa and Hazel - the true unsung heroes. This story is about friendship, different environments and languages and how folks who are SO DIFFERENT can come together and LIVE. Survive. Build a community. Truely enlightening.

I could not wait to get my hands on Lisa Wingate’s latest book. Wingate has written compellingly of children caught up in difficult/desperate circumstances being taken advantage of by adults in previous novels Before They Were Yours and The Book of Lists. Her extensive research brings historical situations to life in the characters she creates.

Shelterwood is a sympathetically written story of some of the hardships and injustices experienced by native Americans in Oklahoma during the land grab days. We learned of many of the horrendous abuses in Killers of the Flower Moon, but this story leads from the perspective of the children. In this earlier timeline, two young girls, Ollie and Nessie, take to the woods to try to escape from an abusive stepfather and reach a place of safety. Their plight and their adventures keep your heart in your throat as they make narrow escapes from those who would harm them. (Wingate weaves in the story of Kate Barnard, who was the first woman elected to public office in Oklahoma, and who was a champion of women and children AND instigated the first public report of the Osage murders.)

Shelterwood is also a contemporary story of a female park ranger who becomes enmeshed in the fallout from a modern day land grab of resources from federal lands. Valerie desperately wants to make her way in the Park Rangers and make a good life for herself and her son. Almost immediately Val is faced with a missing teenage boy and a cave with three small graves, along with a supervisor who isn’t thrilled to have a female ranger and the boy’s sister who begs for help to find him. What is the connection between the stories? That keeps you wondering and a little fearful.

Wingate is a master at making you care deeply about the subjects of her books. She weaves in historical accuracy and great character development, with just enough suspense. This is another winner.

Thanks to Netgalley and Random House for an ARC in exchange for an unbiased review.

This book takes place during the early days of Oklahoma's statehood; the land runs have already happened, and the indigenous people have been relocated. Their homes have been stolen or swindled by opportunistic men who want the oil and gas underneath. In the process of relocation, adults have been killed and children have been left in the care of state guardians who are taking the money for themselves. These guardians often have as many as 50 orphan children who they are supposed to be supervising, but they simply don't bother to keep track of them. These children are left to fend for themselves. This is the story of some of those children, two girls in particular, Ollie and Nessa.

Lisa Wingate has done her homework on the historical research that was required to make this novel sing. It's descriptions of the Winding Stairs mountain area are beautifully drawn. Her story of the hardship that these two orphan girls endure to simply survive in a world where they have no one but each other is hard heart-hitting.

The story unfolds on two time lines; that of a female park ranger in 1990 and the tale of Ollie and Nessa in 1909. There is a bit of mystery, which slowly resolves itself as these timeline merge. It's well constructed, and while the end is not a huge twist, it does contain a nice surprise.

All in all this was a lovely reading choice, and I'm glad that I picked it up.

I received an advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest review, which in this case, I'm happy to give.

Told in two different time periods but the same location, this compelling story set in Oklahoma pulls you in and doesn't let go. Although the story switched between the two times and set of characters, both are engaging enough to draw you in for more.

As a lover of historical fiction, this is a time period I knew almost nothing about, so I was into this story. As happens with most dual timelines, I enjoyed one storyline more than the other. Wingate continues to write some fascinating historical fiction of little know historical time periods and events!

I have been drawn to Lisa Wingate's books since I read Tending Roses years ago. Her book Before We Were Yours is especially dear to me as I'm adopted. In Shelterwood we are introduced once again to children in trouble and the Choctaw nation which added an interesting aspect to the story.

As we meet Olive and Nessa in 1909 my heart is immediately drawn to them. Olive is doing all she can to save her little sister Nessa from the scum of a stepfather they have; then as we move to 1990 we meet Valerie, a park ranger who is as loving and protective as Olive. This book is set in Oklahoma, a place I lived for a short period, and Ms. Wingate uses the history of the Choctaw nation to create a story that will both wreck your heart and encourage your spirit as you learn things in history that should never be forgotten. I loved the historical part which is typical.

Lisa Wingate has a unique ability to tell compelling and heartwrenching stories involving children in danger wrapped in historical timelines, which has made her a go-to author for me. I love learning things while reading, which is probably why historicals are some of my favorite reads; and dual-time lines are the best in my opinion.

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book via the publisher. I was not required to write a review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I have always enjoyed Wingate’s stories. This one started out really really strong. I was pretty hooked on both timelines. Especially the past one about, but also the other for its mystery. It started to fall off about halfway through. I started to get bored and wishing it’d just get to what happened. I felt like it could have been shorter, yet I appreciated the historical aspect and know that it likely all needed to be said to get that aspect correct. All in all- good historical fiction.