Shelterwood
This richly imagined dual-timeline tale introduces eleven-year-old Olive Peele and her adopted Choctaw sister, Nessa Rusk. In Oklahoma in 1909, they escape the abusive household where Olive’s brutal stepfather, Tesco, has already used and discarded Nessa’s older sister. When Olive catches Tesco eyeing six-year-old Nessa one night, she takes the little girl and flees. Their extraordinary journey explores the resilience and inventiveness of children faced with extreme danger.
Hungry and bedraggled, they make their way to the town of Talihina with a small gaggle of orphans and into Oklahoma’s Winding Stair Mountains. In 1990, Valerie Boren-Odell relocates there with her seven-year-old son, Charlie, to become a ranger and law enforcement officer for the National Park. Valerie’s encounter with Sydney, a cheeky, garrulous youngster dumped into foster care when her grandmother takes ill, is eye-opening, and her instincts, during a routine check of an abandoned car, tell her that Sydney’s missing brother, a suspicious rockslide, and a bloated body caught in a flood path are all connected. But how?
Shelterwood swept me into a time and place I knew nothing about, when the Five Tribes were systematically robbed of oil- and timber-rich land as the government facilitated a corrupt legal system which allowed ruthless grafters to purchase guardianships of Tribal children. Part mystery, part thriller, and based upon meticulous research, it explores the human struggle and search for justice in an unforgiving world. The vulnerability and abuse of children is a difficult subject, but the novel allows us to focus on the wider, untamed wilderness, spotlighting our need to maintain our connection to the natural world. Valerie and Charlie’s grounded mother-son connection is juxtaposed against Olive and Nessa’s harrowing journey, where they face impossible odds in returning to Olive’s original mountain home. Wingate crafts a tender story of family trust and responsibility, connecting two timelines into a memorable and fulfilling ending.
