A History of Wild Places (2021) is Shea Ernshaw’s adult debut. It blends elements of magical realism, mystery, and thriller. The novel focuses on an isolated community called Pastoral, a rural commune where a missing writer of macabre children’s books was last seen. Ernshaw’s previously published works include YA titles The Wicked Deep (2018), Winterwood (2019), and A Wilderness of Stars (2022). Ernshaw’s work often includes wilderness settings inspired by her time spent living in Oregon.

In A History of Wild Places, Ernshaw alludes to the pastoral tradition popular in Renaissance poetry and explores themes related to isolated community living: The Insidious Nature of Deceit and The Ideal Versus Reality of Off-Grid Existence. The inclusion of the writer character lends the novel a metafictional component, which enables Ernshaw to explore The Power and Darkness of Fairy Tales as a theme.

This guide refers to the 2021 US Atria edition.

Content Warning: This guide refers to death by suicide.

Plot Summary

Travis Wren has an uncanny ability to see other people’s memories when he handles objects they have touched. He uses this ability to find missing people, hoping it will alleviate his internal conflict in the wake of his sister, Ruth, dying by suicide, which he feels responsible for. As the novel opens, he is on the case of finding Maggie St. James. An author of dark children’s books, St. James disappeared five years earlier. Travis begins with a clue from Maggie’s mother, leading him to search for her in a place called Pastoral, an off-grid community. He goes deep into the woods to find the community.

From this point, the narrative shifts among three perspectives: Theo, his wife, Calla, and his sister-in-law, Bee. While the twist is not revealed until close to the novel’s conclusion, two years have passed. Theo is actually Travis Wren, and Calla is Maggie St. James. Theo, Calla, and Bee live in Pastoral, a community led by the mercurial Levi, who is the son of the original founder. Bee and Levi have known each other since childhood and have a secret sexual relationship. While the inhabitants enjoy their simple existence, they fear a disease that originates in the trees, which they call “rot.” Over the course of the novel, the characters begin to doubt Levi. Bee discovers that he has been hypnotizing them and that the illness is not real. Bee is described as blind throughout the novel, but it is revealed that her blindness was also a result of Levi’s hypnosis.

At the start of Part 2, Calla discovers that Theo has been going beyond Pastoral’s boundary for more than a year. She is surprised that he has not contracted the illness and horrified at what he has done, but she decides not to tell the others about his deceit. On one nighttime excursion, Theo finds a truck with a picture of Maggie St. James inside. While he does not realize until much later, the truck belongs to him from when he first came to Pastoral as Travis Wren. Bee vaguely remembers someone named Travis Wren and that he had been in the house.

The catalyst for the shift in the Pastoral community’s status quo is an infant’s birth to two members, Colette and Ash, eight weeks early. Both Bee, who is able to hear the baby’s heartbeat, and the community’s midwife, Faye, realize that the baby will die without medical treatment. A gathering is convened to decide the course of action. While some community members argue that they should go for help, Levi rules that they must protect the community, even if it costs the child’s life. Bee later goes to argue with Levi about this decision. She admits that she is pregnant with his child, but he tells her he’s going to marry Alice Weaver, another community member whom he sees as a more suitable wife.

Theo finds a notebook that belonged to Travis Wren, from which several pages have been torn. The notebook reveals Travis’s worry about the community as well as an indication that he found Maggie St. James. Meanwhile, Calla digs in her garden and finds a book by Maggie St. James—Eloise and the Foxtail, Book One—and a charm from a necklace belonging to Maggie.

At the guard post one night, Calla and Theo see two people attempting to leave Pastoral: the infant’s father, Ash, and another man, Turk. While Calla suggests that they must help them escape, Levi and two other men bring Ash and Turk back to the community. A ritual is then enacted in which the men are buried alive for three days, ostensibly in the hope of leeching away the “rot” they presumably caught in the woods. They are tested for illness by being made to bleed, and Levi creates an illusion that their blood is black and infected. Both men are executed by hanging.

Levi and Alice marry during another gathering. After the wedding, Theo catches Levi attempting to burn a small box containing one of Travis’s missing notebook pages and Maggie’s charm necklace. Theo realizes that Levi knew about both Travis and Maggie and attempted to prevent them from leaving. Bee has been spending most of her time in the woods since Levi announced his impending marriage, and she begins to feel that her mind is clearing. She returns, though, and on the night of Levi’s wedding, they have sex. Afterward, she finds herself in the woods with a knife in her hands. She realizes that she has been cutting the trees to suggest that they are diseased.

Theo and Calla realize who they are: Travis Wren and Maggie St. James. Along with Bee, they decide to leave Pastoral. Bee insists that she won’t leave without Colette and her baby. She convinces Colette and Faye to come with her, then goes to leave a dried flower at Levi’s house as an indication that she has left him. As she is doing this, he comes home and locks her in a closet. While inside, her sight returns, and she sees his books about hypnosis. Maggie and Travis come to the house to retrieve the truck keys and free Bee.

They run from Levi’s house, but Levi has set the birthing hut on fire. Travis rescues Faye, Colette, and the baby. One of Pastoral’s guards, Parker, comes to investigate the fire, but when Travis attempts to take his gun, Maggie is shot. Bee returns to confront Levi. He begins to strangle her, and she stabs him to death.

The others make it to a gas station outside Pastoral’s boundaries, and an ambulance is called. Maggie, Colette, and the baby are all treated in the hospital and begin to recover. Colette is revealed to be an actress named Ellen who disappeared 11 years earlier. Maggie’s parents come to see them. Her mother reveals that she had an affair with Cooper, the community’s founder, and that Maggie was born in Pastoral. Travis and Maggie decide to return to the community. The novel concludes with the birth of Bee’s baby. She has become the community leader in Levi’s stead, and Pastoral’s boundaries are now open.