A Historical Fiction Must Read

Book Review

I finished Shelterwood by Lisa Wingate and this historical fiction book blew me away! I read Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate and loved it so I knew when this book was released I needed to read it as well.

The book has dual timelines with two perspectives in the first person. Valerie Boren Odell a park ranger in the nineties has just moved to a small town in Oklahoma and boldly starts to uncover a mystery and asks questions that the locals are very tight-lipped about. The second is Olive "Ollie" Augusta Peele in the early nineteen hundreds. Ollie ran away from her abusive stepfather with her adoptive sister Nessa Peele in 1909. While on the run they meet other children like them and try to find a way for themselves apart from the abusive homes they live in.

As you read into the book you begin guessing how the two stories merge together but at the end when you see it all come together you will be left speechless (or at least I was).

The story is beautifully written with such detail, time, and research that you feel like you are living in the woods in 1909 with Ollie and the other kids or trying to put together the puzzle pieces with Valerie in 1990. Every chapter and detail left me wanting more and to continue learning about Olive and Valerie. The story of a strong woman and girl following their hearts and fighting for justice.

Shelterwood by Lisa Wingate will keep you engaged and you won't be able to put it down, even where it gets bogged down in details.