Breakaway Books

Authored by Lisa Wingate; Published June 2024; Historical fiction / Mystery

⭐️⭐️⭐️ / 🏖️🏖️

Shelterwood vaguely reminded me of the many, many coming of age novels that I read in school. Kids, striking off on their own because their parents can’t or won’t take care of them. It’s not my favorite type of book, but the strand of history in this novel provided real texture to the novel.

Shelterwood hops back and forth between two timelines—one in which Ollie, a little girl in 1909, runs away from an abusive stepfather, and the other set in 1990 in which park service ranger Valerie tries to find a missing teenager to help out his little sister. I did not love Ollie’s story and found Valerie’s much easier to read; however, either of these narratives would have been better served with an entire novel to themselves.

The historical background of Ollie’s stories—in which rich white Americans conned American Indians out of their land through guardianship schemes—is a depressing part of American history. It served as a mere backdrop in her story, told in a voice of a child who doesn’t fully understand, but I wish it could have been more center stage. I found Ollie’s companions as she worked to scrounge food and work frustrating, even annoying at times, but I loved the drop-in references to one of Oklahoma’s first female politicians. Ollie’s story seemed to cut off suddenly, and the reader learns the rest of her life story in an inelegant rush.

As for the mystery that Valerie worked to solve, I appreciated the author’s pacing of the different pieces of the puzzle. I often wished that I could skip Ollie’s chapters and stick to Valerie’s mystery, not just because of lack of interest in Ollie, but to keep all the different clues straight in my head.  While the mystery lightly intertwines with Ollie’s escapades, it certainly could have stood on its own, and I wish it would have.

If you love Oklahoma, you will love this book. The state’s rich history is everywhere in this story. If you don’t have a robust interest in the state, this one may not be for you.