Shelterwood

Starred review from April 29, 2024
Wingate’s stellar latest (after Before We Were Yours) explores a centuries-long legacy of missing child cases in Oklahoma’s Winding Stair mountains. In 1990, the long-buried remains of three young girls are discovered in the newly created Horsethief Trail National Park. When park ranger Valerie Boren-Odell, whose husband’s death has left her to care for their seven-year-old son alone, learns her boss won’t investigate how the girls died, she feels compelled to uncover their names and what happened to them. As the disappearance of a teenage boy and the discovery of an unidentified man’s corpse complicate Valerie’s investigation, Choctaw tribal police officer Curtis Enhoe offers insight and access to tribal records that help link the cases. In a parallel narrative set in 1909, 11-year-old Olive “Ollie” Radley’s Choctaw foster sister Hazel disappears after being molested by Olive’s stepfather. When he turns his attention to Hazel’s younger sister, Nessa, Ollie decides they must flee. The pair evade pursuit by moving deeper into the forest, discovering to their surprise that other victimized children, most of them Choctaw, are also hiding there. Wingate’s insightful depiction of her young characters’ vulnerability and resourcefulness enriches the intricate plotting, and her portrayal of the region’s history, culture, and landscape enthralls. Wingate is at the top of her game. Agent: Elisabeth Weed, Book Group.

May 15, 2024
Grieving widow Valerie arrives at a new national park in Oklahoma's Winding Stair Mountains in 1990 with her son. Underestimated by her colleagues and harassed by locals, she finds allies in a Choctaw tribal officer and a girl who spins dubious tales about her missing grandmother and brother. When disturbances in the park seem connected to the girl's brother, Valerie risks her job to investigate, exposing old secrets. In 1909, early in Oklahoma's statehood, much of the land owned by Choctaw people has been seized by land barons. Eleven-year old Ollie escapes her abusive stepfather, bringing Nessa, a young Choctaw girl, along. Soon their group grows to include other abandoned children, and Ollie will have to use her wits to realize her vision of a place where they will all be safe. With descriptions that engage all the senses and protagonists who fight for what they know is right despite inner conflict, Wingate's latest (after The Book of Lost Friends, 2020) shines a light on an important part of history and the deep connection between place and the people who call it home.

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