“A History of Wild Places”, by Shea Ernshaw, is a hauntingly beautiful slow burner.

This dark, twisting story was fascinating, leaving me to stay up way past my bedtime as the eerie mysteries unfolded. It’s a beautifully written and atmospheric. The big twist blew my mind. If you love Night Shyamalan, this book is for you!

Thank you to NetGalley, Atria Books and Shea Ernshaw for the ARC in exchange for my honest review. ❤️️

This book is much slower paced than I usually read and it sounds like it’s going to be more of a thriller. There are thriller elements all there bud it just doesn’t have that feeling. It’s so lyrical and winding and surreal that I found myself completely caught up in the narrative. Ernshaw is a master at building a sense of place and atmosphere.

This haunting book was the perfect way to start my year!! The first couple chapters drew me right in and left me yearning to find out what happened to characters. The author begins by introducing Maggie St. James, a missing novelist, and Travis, a man with a supernatural gift who is hired to find Maggie. After these quick but impactful introductions, the author whisks the reader away from the “real world” and plops them right down in the small community of Pastoral. This was a risky move with an abrupt change in pace but it successfully creates a clear distinction in tone and setting. I don’t any time provide any spoilers but I will say that the plot comes together brilliantly!! I really enjoyed as the pieces slowly clicked into place for a beautifully satisfying climax. I highly recommend this book for anyone who loves atmospheric mysteries with dark and supernatural elements.

A History of Wild Places
By Shea Ernshaw
Atria Books, 7 December 2021

“Travis Wren has an unusual talent for locating missing people. Hired by families as a last resort, he requires only a single object to find the person who has vanished. When he takes on the case of Maggie St. James—a well-known author of dark, macabre children’s books—he’s led to a place many believed to be only a legend.”

I loved this book from the first sentence. Legend, myth, love, lies. A History of Wild Places by Shea Ernshaw is the best book I read in 2021.

Maggie St. James had been missing for two years. She walked into the woods one day and disappeared. Travis Wren was an expert at finding the missing, but he didn’t take cases anymore. He was depressed and almost suicidal; he took this case reluctantly as a favor for a friend. He already knew where to start – the community of Pastoral. He also knew he was likely to disappear, just like Maggie St. James.

Pastoral had been closed off for so long, locals thought it was abandoned, maybe even a legend. For those still living inside Pastoral, the outside world was dangerous, toxic, and maybe even apocalyptic. Leaving the community was banned and anyone caught outside the perimeter was forcibly brought back inside and decontaminated.

Theo, who lived his entire life inside the gates of Pastoral, was becoming curious about the outside. This terrified his wife, Calla. And Theo’s sister, Bee, who is blind, sees life in the community more clearly than either of them. Are they endangering themselves, and the community, with their secrets?

Pastoral began as a back-to-the-land, family-oriented commune. But had it become something else? Why weren’t members allowed to leave, and why were the trees bleeding? Part fairy tale, part mystery, this is a fascinating story of what people are capable of believing.

I know I’m late with this review; I’ve found that the more I like a book, the more it makes me feel, the harder it is for me to write about it. This is a brilliant pager-turner that I received as a digital ARC, but I subsequently bought a hardback copy. I can’t recommend this book enough.

Thanks to NetGalley and Atria Books for the free ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Shea Ernshaw makes her adult fiction debut with A HISTORY OF WILD PLACES, a lush and atmospheric novel about the psychology of cults and the lure of dark, hidden places where one can disappear.

Founded in the 1970s, the community of Pastoral has been hidden away in a remote commune, living only on what they can make, grow or kill for themselves. Though some members remember the outside world from their childhoods, the majority of Pastoral has never stepped foot outside the border of their community. For one thing, they have everything they need anyway, but there’s another, more terrifying element keeping them in: elm pox, a highly contagious, deathly illness brought on by sick trees just outside of the border, marked by the seeping, bleeding, rotten black blood of its sufferers. Anyone who steps foot outside has the potential not only to catch the rot themselves, but to carry it into the commune and cause the deaths of their loved ones and neighbors.

Theo, a lifelong member of Pastoral, knows all of this, yet he cannot help but wonder what really lies beyond the border. For almost a year, he has used his role as a night guardsman to walk silently, secretly down the road leading out of Pastoral --- first only a few feet at a time, now nearly to the end of the road, where a simple turn will take him past everything he has ever known. One night, while taking his forbidden walk, he finds an abandoned truck covered in dead leaves. Inside is a photograph of a beautiful woman and the name “Maggie St. James” on the back, along with a wallet belonging to a Travis Wren.

Over a year earlier, in the outside world, Travis was on the hunt for a missing woman. Blessed (or cursed?) with a mysterious gift that enables him to locate missing people using only a single object of theirs, he was hired by Maggie's family to find their daughter. A notorious and acclaimed author of dark children’s fairy tales, Maggie disappeared after a scandal surrounding her books that resulted in the death of a child. As Travis tracks her using a charm from her favorite necklace, he learns about Pastoral and her interest in finding the forgotten commune…and quickly realizes that she knew exactly where she was going when she walked into the woods five years earlier, never to be seen again.

Now, Maggie and Travis have both disappeared, and it seems that only Theo is aware that outsiders came close --- dangerously close --- to Pastoral’s center. But when he confides in his wife, Calla, and her blind but all-seeing sister, Bee, he learns that Bee remembers Travis. In fact, she claims that he was hiding in their own farmhouse for a spell. Despite her ability to see through lies, sense a newborn’s heartbeat and smell when a new couple is in love, she cannot seem to recall where Travis went or how he ended up in their home. With the walls closing in on Pastoral, and Theo growing more and more suspicious of their leader, Levi, it comes down to him, Calla and Bee to track the disappearances of two outsiders who were drawn to Pastoral…and the dangers lurking within.

As a fan of Shea Ernshaw’s young adult fiction, I was immediately drawn to A HISTORY OF WILD PLACES and its premise based in dark fairy tales, visions and hidden communes. I am delighted to say that once again she did not disappoint. For its vivid, atmospheric setting and ripped-from-the-headlines cult themes, it is steeped in magic, infused with a haunting hint of the paranormal that only emphasizes the dark mystery and horrifyingly real cult at its center. This is a difficult novel to label: Ernshaw writes mystery as well as she writes thriller elements and equally as well as she writes dark, alluring magic. The book includes all of that and more.

Where Ernshaw really shines, though, is in her storytelling. From quiet, questioning Theo; anxious, brainwashed Calla; and shockingly observant Bee, each of these protagonists is in the middle of a great dilemma of character, faith and future. The way that she unravels and spins each of their arcs is masterful, absorbing, and utterly raw and human. On top of that, she knows how to keep readers turning pages, ending each chapter on a stunning cliffhanger and cadenced, powerful prose that guides you through as seamlessly as reading a classic fairy tale.

Perfect for readers of Miranda Beverly-Whittemore's FIERCE LITTLE THING, Courtney Summers' THE PROJECT and even fantasies like Ava Reid's THE WOLF AND THE WOODSMAN, A HISTORY OF WILD PLACES is a truly original story from a writer at the top of her game that speaks to the dark, hidden places in all of us.

I heard a lot about Shea Ernshaw’s other novel The Wicked Deep so I thought I’d give this one a try but unfortunately I found A History of Wild Places dry :(

4.5 stars. This was a little bit of a slow start for me but once it picked up it was a wild ride. Unexpected twists with characters that are easy to root for. Very atmospheric.

Many thanks to Artria Books and NetGalley for allowing me to read an advance copy of A History of Wild Places by Shea Ernshaw, in exchange for an honest, unbiased review.

A History of Wild Places, Shea Ernshaw's adult debut was one of my most highly anticipated books and thrilled to say it did not disappoint! This dreamy, deeply atmospheric story is rich in mystery with a pinch of Magical Realism and an intriguing twist. I had seen several reviewers compare it to M. Night's movie, The Village, and though I also would have been pleased with that, I found this story to be so much more!

We begin following Travis Wren, who by the possession of a single object, is able to track and find lost people. He has been hired by the parents of macabre children's author Maggie St. James. The search leads him to a notoriously reclusive community, founded in the 70's, called Pastoral. Though this community was thought not to exist anymore, once encountering it, somehow Travis ends up missing as well.

Enter Theo, a lifelong Pastoral community member who has been questioning their isolated community and the inability to ever leave, due to Pastoral's fear of a spreading disease called "the rot". Though all are forbidden to leave or enter the boundary if Pastoral, Theo crosses the boundary and discovers Travis' abandoned truck. Who is Travis and what was he doing so close to the infectious border? Is their world as safe as they have always believed? Will Theo be able to continue protecting his wife Calla and her sister Bee, safe and content in their simple and isolated Pastoral?

This haunting and quiet mystery will conclude with an explosion of truth and the reality that the true face of evil can show where we least expect it. Lose yourself in the hypnotic haze of A History of Wild Places by Shea Ernshaw

Picture M. Night Shyamalan’s ‘The Village’ and that will set up the imagery you need for this book.

When well known author Maggie St. James goes missing, her family hires Travis Wren to find her. He tracks her to her last known location, a secluded community that isn’t believed to be inhabited. And then this story takes a bizarre turn.
Filled with secrets and misdirection, this atmospheric novel kept me guessing until the end. The author stepped away from young adult fiction for this, and while there were some aspects that had a YA feel, overall it was a satisfying multiple POV mystery.

A History of Wild Places by Shea Ernshaw was a gripping story that took me on a roller-coaster of emotions. The beginning was fast-paced and caught my attention, then the middle was a little slower for me, but the ending picked up and had me wondering what in the world is going on.

Synopsis:
Travis Wren has an unusual talent for finidng people who are missing. He is able to sense where a person may be with just one item that is given to him by the families who hire him. On a new case, he is hired to find a well-known author named Maggie St. James. On his way through the woods to find her, Travis Wren disappears just like Maggie.

Fast forward year laters and we meet Theo eho is a lifetime member of a remote community called Pastoral. Here, like-minded people have some together for a simpler way of life. Now, members like Theo, his wife Calla and her sister Bee, feel they are at risk of disease if they stray too far into the forest outside of Pastoral. Nobody is allowed to leave Pastoral and with the help of the guards nobody is able to come in. But, when outside help is needed to save one will they risk disease to get help or save their members and community by doing nothing?

Thoughts:
-This is not my usual genre but in the end, I was like “What in the world did I just read?!?” (in a good way!)
-Cult-ish vibes which is always interesting to me.
-Multiple POVs which was very interesting in this setting. You were able to get the full picture of what the members were thinking and not just what they put out in the world.

I’m excited that I took a chance on this solid four star read!

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for this ARC that I had to buy from Book of the Month when it was available!

Wow! I flew through most of this book because I was dying to figure out what was going on. Most of the book has an underlying uneasiness about it. I don’t want to give too much away - go into the book as blind as you can (no pun intended).

Ernshaw’s writing is haunting as you try to pull whispers of secrets and relationships together to reveal what’s really going on in a cult commune called Pastoral. There’s some magical realism elements, which add extra layers to trying to figure out what’s real among the dark and the sinister. I just needed to know what was going on so I plowed through this book in a couple days. Even though it was so weird and disturbing, my attention was held throughout it! I actually guessed the ending halfway through but didn’t change my opinion of it. I just wish it was paced a little faster overall!

I am disappointed with this book. I was expecting one thing and received another. It had potential but it was not well written.

Travis has a unique ability to find missing people. As a favor to a police officer friend, Travis agrees to try to find Maggie, an author who has been missing for 5 years. The trail leads him to an old commune - and then Travis disappears too.

That was the set up for what sounded like a good mystery. Unfortunately, this was pretty boring. I had reached the 45% point of the book before anything happened, and that wasn’t much. There were plot holes (like why didn’t the cop come to look for Travis) and the conclusion was both ludicrous and insufficiently motivated. The writing was overwrought throughout, but the narrators of the audiobook were partly to blame for that. They read everything in a whispery and fraught tone, which wasn’t called for. I kept reading only to find out what happened to Maggie and Travis. The answer was disappointing. Also, the title doesn’t mean anything.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher.

A History of Wild Places is a book like no other. I started this book thinking I was going to get one story but instead I got something unexpected. Ernshaw's has a beautiful way of writing.

The alternating short chapters between characters made this story move at a fast and enjoyable pace. I had my suspicions early on about what could be happening but Ernshaw had a way of making me even doubt myself. While not all of the reveals were a shock to me, they were wonderfully handled.

This was wildly different from her previous two books. But. It was magical all the same. The way Shea writes about forests is beautiful. This book was thrilling, but didn't move too quickly as to miss anything. I enjoyed this story and the theme that nothing is really as it seems.

Wild story. I figured out the twist. I felt it was a great start and I was captivated. It then in the middle it just drags and focuses too much on the woods. I loved the ending

I really liked the character of Travis, a "lone wolf" type who is struggling against his sorrows, but has a talent for finding missing people. So, I was a little thrown off when Travis goes missing himself and the book switches to the perspective of residents of an isolated commune where he was investigating the disappearance of an author of creepy children's books.
I am rounding up from 3.5 because this was a cool story, but it moved a little slow and didn't entirely draw me in.

DNF I was very bored and had no idea where this book was going. I honestly did not understand the plot. Therefore, I gave up reading. I was very lost.

This book is so beautifully written it will suck you right in. The first part of the book is eerie, chilly and so well set that you can practically feel the cold against your skin. The first character we are introduced to is one that I loved and was excited to read and see where it went. The Second part of the book was just as well written and I still enjoyed it but it never captured the essence of the first part and I really wanted to go back to that. I spent a lot of the second part wishing for the first part. The second part of the book also seemed to suffer from a bit of an identity crisis. It isn't sure if it wants to be magical realism, fantasy or contemporary fiction. That back and forth was a little frustrating. I also didn't love the ending. I'm still giving it four stars because the writing is fantastic and the pacing was really done. I enjoyed it quite a bit despite the few things I didn't love.