Oklahoma, 1909. Eleven-year-old Olive Augusta Radley knows that her stepfather doesn’t have good intentions toward the two Choctaw girls boarded in their home as wards. When the older girl disappears, Ollie flees to the woods, taking six-year-old Nessa with her. Together they begin a perilous journey to the remote Winding Stair Mountains, the notorious territory of outlaws, treasure hunters, and desperate men. Along the way, Ollie and Nessa form an unlikely band with others like themselves, struggling to stay one step ahead of those who seek to exploit them . . . or worse.

Oklahoma, 1990. Law enforcement ranger Valerie Boren-Odell arrives at newly minted Horsethief Trail National Park seeking a quiet place to balance a career and single parenthood. But no sooner has Valerie reported for duty than she’s faced with local controversy over the park’s opening, a teenage hiker gone missing from one of the trails, and the long-hidden burial site of three children unearthed in a cave. Val’s quest for the truth wins an ally among the neighboring Choctaw Tribal Police but soon collides with old secrets and the tragic and deadly history of the land itself.

In this emotional and enveloping novel, Lisa Wingate traces the story of children abandoned by the law and the battle to see justice done. Amid times of deep conflict over who owns the land and its riches, Ollie and Val traverse the rugged and beautiful terrain, each leaving behind one life in search of another.

There is nothing quite as wonderful as historical fiction that transports me to another land and another time populated with lost-to-time stories and fascinating characters—which means there is nothing quite as wonderful as a new Lisa Wingate novel.

The year is 1909 in a land where the forests are deep, and the rugged mountains hide secrets, danger, and outlaws. We meet eleven-year-old Ollie and a six-year-old Choctaw girl named Nessa as together they flee an abusive man. They have nowhere to hide and must escape into the wild woodlands to make their way to the remote Winding Stair Mountains. Unsure if they are headed into worse danger than they are escaping, we readers hold our breath and madly turn the pages to discover their fate.

Eighty-one years later, in 1990, a ranger named Valerie, along with her young and precocious son, arrives at the newly formed Horsethief Trail National Park. They too are running from wounds and tragedy. And when Valerie arrives in Oklahoma, she immediately faces an unholy trio of problems: opposition to the new trail and park, the mystery of a missing teenage hiker, and the news of an unearthed burial ground inside a cave with the remains of three children.

These two fascinating storylines braid together to give us the gift of Shelterwood—a novel rich with suspense, mystery, and deep emotion. Lisa Wingate’s singular ability to bring us into the world of America’s lost children shines in Shelterwood.