Book Review: A History of Wild Places by Shea Ernshaw

My Rating:

4.5⭐

A History of Wild Places by Shea Ernshaw begins with Travis Wren and his efforts to locate Maggie St. James who has been missing for over five years. Maggie is the author of a series of children’s books - 'Eloise and the Foxtail: Foxes and Museums' . The books have been criticized as too dark and gruesome for children having a damaging influence on its young readers. Travis has special abilities and can visualize a person’s past actions and location by touching an object belonging to said person. As a favor to a friend, he has taken Maggie's case despite still being in grief over the death of his sister. In the course of his search, he reaches Klamath National Forest and deeper into the woods he reaches the gate of Pastoral, a commune that is said to have been set up in the 1970s by a group of people who wanted a simple life off the grid and amid nature but has mostly been considered a myth.

“My eyes are sore from crying, my lungs are sore from coughing, my knees are sore from kneeling, and my heart is sore from believing. If you are sore and tired, then come into these woods and sleep.”

Fast forward a few years ahead and we meet Theo, his wife, Calla, and her sister, Bee living in an old farmhouse near the edge of the commune. Theo is responsible for restricting access in or out of the commune premises. Pastoral is a gated community with strict rules about not letting outsiders into the premises and not allowing residents to leave the premises in fear of them contracting the “rot”, a disease that is assumed to be the result of contact with the dying and diseased trees in the forest. To avoid contagion anybody suspected of being infected is rid of the illness in the harshest ways in keeping with Pastoral rules. Theo is tempted to venture outside the commune and unbeknownst to anybody explores the area outside the gates - a fact that he hides from his wife, but Calla is not blind to the fact that Theo is hiding something from her. He discovers Travis's abandoned car outside the premises and on searching inside finds a picture of Maggie St James. At home, he discovers Travis’s journal in which he outlined the details of his search for Maggie. Calla and Bee also harbor secrets of their own and hide their thoughts and suspicion from each other, Bee, who lost her eyesight at the age of nineteen, is in a complicated romantic relationship with Levi, the leader of Pastoral. In a separate incident, Calla finds a broken charm from Maggie’s necklace – the same charm Travis was using to access Maggie’s location. She also discovers a copy of Maggie’s book buried in her garden. Bee, on her part, has vague memories of Travis having stayed in an abandoned section of their farmhouse but is not completely sure of what her memories mean. They share a sense of foreboding and begin to suspect that things are not what they seem in their peaceful commune.

What happened to Travis and Maggie? What was their connection to Pastoral? Is Pastoral truly the idyllic community that it seems to be? Are Levi's restrictive rules designed truly in the best interests of Pastoral? What is this mysterious disease affecting the trees and the people who come into contact with those dying trees? Should Calla, Theo and Bee be concerned for their own safety and the well-being of their friends in Pastoral?

Told through multiple POVs with snippets from Maggie’s Eloise and the Foxtail series interspersed throughout the narrative , Shea Ernshaw’s A History of Wild Places is dark and suspenseful with an ending that is hard to see coming. To fully enjoy this immersive novel with its intriguing premise and atmospheric setting you do need to suspend disbelief. With vivid imagery, gripping narrative and complex characters I was drawn in from the very first page and completed it in a day. The transition from Travis’s POV to the characters of the Pastoral commune seemed a bit abrupt and confusing but the author brings everything together masterfully with a shocking twist at the end. I thoroughly enjoyed the story and look forward to reading more from this author in the future.