Shea Ernshaw breaks new ground with this literary fiction debut, brought to life by Pete Simonelli as Travis, Gibson Frazier as Theo, Cindy Kay as Calla, Carlotta Brentan as Bee, and Cassandra Campbell as Eloise and the Foxtail. The atmospheric story begins with the search for a missing author, an abandoned truck, and a secret community in a remote village known as Pastoral. The listener will be transported between timelines and characters in a trance-like unraveling. The novel’s point of view takes on multiple perspectives and hypnotically weaves aspects of fairy tales, isolation, and paranoia that will have the listener questioning who and what are real. M.R.R. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine

10/04/2021

YA author Ernshaw (Winterwood) makes her adult debut with a lurid, fast-paced story of a reclusive commune. Travis Wren, a private investigator with psychic abilities, is hired by the parents of Maggie St. James to find her, five years after her disappearance at age 26. He follows her trail to Pastoral, an isolated community founded a generation earlier by hippies in Northern California’s Three River Mountains. Ernshaw then switches to life inside Pastoral, with no sign of Travis or Maggie, and where Theo, longing to leave and doubting the warnings from the new controlling leader, Levi, of a fatal disease beyond their village, repeatedly risks venturing past the boundary and finds himself unharmed, but doesn’t tell his wife, Calla, about these illicit expeditions. Calla’s younger blind sister, Bee, is carrying Levi’s baby and is shattered when Levi refuses to publicly acknowledge her pregnancy. When another woman’s baby is born in need of medical attention, Levi cruelly punishes the father for attempting to seek outside help. Meanwhile, Theo and Calla discover some items belonging to Travis and Maggie that suggest they were in Pastoral. As the mysteries deepen, Calla, Theo, and Bee piece together the shocking truth about the missing characters. When it’s revealed, it strains credulity, and the prose is often simplistic, but the twisty plot brims with tension. There’s plenty of fodder here for a miniseries. Agent: Jessica Regel, Foundry Literary + Media. (Dec.)

As spine-chilling as it is beautifully crafted, A History of Wild Places will have you compulsively checking your pulse and the whites of your eyes. It will almost certainly make you reconsider that walk in the woods, or at least, compel you to leave a trail of breadcrumbs in your wake.

"An entirely enthralling novel, a true history of a world that pulls the reader into its depths. It is darkly rich in its setting, and its visual, visceral, and absorbing moments are both haunting and rewarding to the reader.

A riveting, atmospheric thriller that messes with your mind in the best way. Shea Ernshaw knows what she’s doing.

"A richly embroidered tapestry deepens in hues as the story turns darker. Readers will sink into this one, and although they might question details of the resolution, they will be moved by the novel's power."

A gorgeously written tale of a community frozen in time and falling headlong into darkness. The plot twists will leave you breathless.

"A History of Wild Places is as eerie and enticing as a gingerbread house in a dark forest. My advice? Gobble up the whole thing. This book will enchant you with its delicious, dangerous magic."

Deep in the woods, a hidden community lives by its own strange rules honed by myth, suggestion, and the terrible powers of groupthink. Is Pastoral as bucolic and lilting as its name, or do the trees split with rot, spewing a pox on all who dare to leave? In powerful, lush prose, Shea Ernshaw has created a world soaked through with the dread of nightmares. A terrifying and timely book.

Dark and atmospheric, A History of Wild Places is a twisting, engrossing delight. Ernshaw’s skillful mix of mystery, psychological thriller, and paranormal-tinged drama keeps the ground shifting beneath her characters and readers. What a wonderful rabbit hole to fall down.

Let the wild rumpus start! A History of Wild Places is poignant and original, and will truly take you to uncharted places. One of the best novels I’ve read this year.

07/01/2021

Famed for his ability to locate people who have vanished, Travis Wren traces missing children's author Maggie St. James to Pastoral, a community so secluded that people think it no longer exists. He promptly vanishes himself, his abandoned truck found years later by a member of the community, and the community's corrosive secrets start emerging. From the author of the New York Times best-selling The Wicked Deep; with a 50,000-copy first printing.

Shea Ernshaw breaks new ground with this literary fiction debut, brought to life by Pete Simonelli as Travis, Gibson Frazier as Theo, Cindy Kay as Calla, Carlotta Brentan as Bee, and Cassandra Campbell as Eloise and the Foxtail. The atmospheric story begins with the search for a missing author, an abandoned truck, and a secret community in a remote village known as Pastoral. The listener will be transported between timelines and characters in a trance-like unraveling. The novel’s point of view takes on multiple perspectives and hypnotically weaves aspects of fairy tales, isolation, and paranoia that will have the listener questioning who and what are real. M.R.R. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine