Shelterwood by Lisa Wingate

Lisa Wingate, who vaulted to the top of the New York Times bestselling list with her novel Before We Were Yours, was a featured guest at the HNS 2023 conference. When her new novel Shelterwood launched in June 2024, I contacted her however, I’m embarrassed to say that I did not follow up properly when she responded.

In that correspondence with Lisa, I asked her how historical fiction illuminates the issues of today.

LISA: For me writing historical fiction is about realizing that we do not live apart from all that came before, but in the midst of it. Today’s societies, today’s people are literally the products of the people and societies of yesterday. By understanding history, we achieve a greater appreciation for the value and relevance of it—what it can teach us, why we need to know those things, and how history becomes a tool to help us navigate daily life. I’ve always had a particular fascination with history brought down to the personal level. I’m interested in how people lived, and what they thought, how they survived hard times and celebrated prosperous ones. There’s so much to be learned from people long gone, and from those who’ve simply walked this earth a few more years. 

I grew up in an era when we still sat at the knee of the old folks and listened to their stories. Many times in my life, as challenges came along, I’d reflect on something one of my grandparents said on the porch or at the kitchen table. Often those tales had seemed like meaningless anecdotes at the time, but they were stored in my memory. They were there to be drawn upon for perspective, or strength, or the assurance that people and societies can weather difficult times.

That’s really the experience I seek to duplicate by viewing pieces of little-known history through a fictional lens—to bring it down to a human level and recreate the experiences of those kitchen table sessions.

Lisa structured Shelterwood in two timelines, one set in 1909 and one set in 1990 to show the importance of understanding our history, even hidden history, and its relevance to later generations.

Shelterwood by Lisa Wingate

A sweeping novel inspired by the untold history of women pioneers who fought to protect children caught in the storm of land barons hungry for power and oil wealth. 

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 rugged 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 O’dell arrives at 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 deep in a cave. Val’s quest to uncover 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 wild and beautiful terrain, each leaving behind one life in search of another.

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M.K. Tod writes historical fiction. Her latest novel THAT WAS THEN is a contemporary thriller. Mary’s other novels, THE ADMIRAL’S WIFE, PARIS IN RUINS, TIME AND REGRET, LIES TOLD IN SILENCE and UNRAVELLED are available from Amazon, Nook, Kobo, Google Play and iTunes. She can be contacted on Facebook or on her website www.mktod.com.