Strange piece of history inspires sweeping new novel from Lisa Wingate

When author Lisa Wingate announces a new book, area readers get excited. Since her smash hit “Before We Were Yours” and bestselling Louisiana novel “Book of Lost Friends,” readers have wondered what little-known piece of history she’ll bring to light next time.

Get ready.

“Shelterwood,” coming June 4, is based on the fascinating true story of Oklahoma pioneer women who fought to defend children from land barons seeking oil wealth… and a modern-day park ranger who rediscovers their story.

Wingate, who grew up in Oklahoma and now lives in Texas, has honed her skills in finding overlooked pieces of history and weaving them into compelling novels about how the past intersects with modern life. I’ve been a fan for years and, through books, we’ve become friends. I’ve read an early copy of “Shelterwood” and encourage you to pre-order it or get on the waiting list at your local library. This will be another big book.

“For me, the underlying theme of this kind of story— in which a current-day character discovers the lives of people long past — is that, whether we understand the history of our families and communities or not, we are affected by it,” she said in an interview.

I’m not the only who loves this novel. “Shelterwood” received a starred review from “Publishers Weekly” and got a glowing review last week from “Booklist.” Early praise cites the book’s intricate and engaging plot, strong characters and fantastic setting. (I definitely want to wander through the woods Wingate describes.)

The deeply researched novel uses real accounts from official records, newspapers and other sources. “I’ve always been fascinated by pieces of ‘hidden history.’ I love the idea of lending relevance to the past by weaving it into the lives of fictional characters and allowing readers to live through events with the characters,” she said.

“Shelterwood” was inspired by two strange pieces of history unearthed during her work on a previous novel. The first was the story of a an 11-year-old girl living in a ramshackle cabin with her family in the hills of Oklahoma in the early 1900s …and receiving marriage proposals from all over the world. The second was the 1909 newspaper mention of a female elected official, a rarity in a time when women couldn’t even vote, who had received reports of “elf children” living in a hollow tree in eastern Oklahoma and went to see who they were.

As with each Wingate novel, tough issues are woven with hope. “For me, hope is the most important element in stories and in life…In some literary spheres, ending a story in a place that is stark and bleak, even hopeless, is considered to be more literary, a reflection of the human condition…When I invest my time in something, I want to emerge with a renewed sense of optimism, understanding and, yes, hope.”

About the story:

Valerie, a single-mother park ranger in newly opened Horsethief Trail National Park, finds herself confronted with the shocking history of Oklahoma’s remote Winding Stair Mountains after the long-hidden burial site of three children is discovered. Val’s investigation leads her to the 1909 life of Ollie, a young girl on the run with the family’s 6-year-old Choctaw ward, Nessa. The reverberations of Ollie and Nessa’s experiences linger even 80 years later, but to understand them, Val must first discover what the girls were running from.

More about the author:

Wingate has written more than 30 novels, including “Before We Were Yours,” which remained on the NYT Bestseller List for more than two years, has been translated into more than 40 languages and has sold more than three million copies. (She and I coauthored the nonfiction follow-up, “Before and After: The Incredible Real-Life Stories of Orphans Who Survived the Tennessee Children's Home Society.”) For her book tour details and other info, see www.lisawingate.com.

For more about columnist Judy Christie, see www.judychristie.com or follow her on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/JudyChristieAuthor.

This article originally appeared on Monroe News-Star: Strange piece of history inspires sweeping new novel from Lisa Wingate