Heartwood

'Fast-paced and full of grace . . . a memorable meditation on the forms of care' Sarah Moss

'An unforgettable treat' Janice Hallett

'An absolute must-read' Elin Hildebrand

In the heart of the Maine woods, an experienced Appalachian Trail hiker goes missing. She is forty-two-year-old Valerie Gillis, who has vanished 200 miles from her final destination. Alone in the wilderness, Valerie pours her thoughts into fractured, poetic letters to her mother as she battles the elements and struggles to keep hoping.

At the centre of the search is Beverly, the determined Maine State Game Warden tasked with finding Valerie, who managing the search on the ground. While Beverly is searching, Lena, a seventy-six-year-old birdwatcher in a retirement community, becomes an unexpected armchair detective. Roving between these compelling narratives, a puzzle emerges, intensifying the frantic search, as Valerie's disappearance may not be accidental.

Both a gripping story and a flawlessly integrated feat of research . . . beautifully written . . . moving and suspenseful The Times Literary Supplement
Gripping . . . uses its isolated setting to great effect . . . each strand adds tension and drama Good Housekeeping
Gaige is at her considerable best when exploring the impact of Valerie's disappearance on others and the range of emotions it prompts among those who are metaphorically, rather than literally, lost the Guardian
This is impossible to put down . . . tense and dramatic Best Magazine
A powerful story of being lost in the wilderness Sainsbury's Magazine
A terrifically moving and tense thriller . . . genius The Washington Post
[T]he best thriller of 2025 . . . a knock-out of a book The Boston Globe
A novelistic cousin to Strayed's best-selling 2012 memoir of tackling the Pacific Crest Trail after her mother's death, it's the story of three woodsy women each lost in her own wilderness, and the gnarled roots between mothers and daughters . . . Heartwood absorbs the reader New York Times Book Review
Gaige's ability to introduce suspense and build it continuously, page after page, is astonishing . . . [a] complex, thrilling work Minneapolis Star Tribune
Unputdownable Real Simple
A crackling adventure story, a meditation on the fraught human connection to nature, and a subtle examination of the rocky relationships between mothers and daughters that shape the lives of its women characters, the novel tightens its grip as it moves toward uncovering its central mysteries Booklist (starred review)
A winning portrait of a woman, and community, in peril Kirkus Reviews
Multifaceted characters and poetic prose enhance Gaige's tender meditations on aging and mother-daughter relationships Publishers Weekly
I can't recall the last time I've been so dazzled by a novel. Heartwood is a literary thriller of the highest order. Amity Gaige's writing is both eloquent and authoritative. This is an ABSOLUTE MUST-READ. You will thank me -- Elin Hildebrand
Heartwood is both fast-paced and full of grace, a story of jeopardy and a memorable meditation on the forms of care: for each other, for ourselves, for our dying planet. -- Sarah Moss
Amity Gaige's Heartwood shines as an evocative and heart-stopping wilderness thriller. Yet this journey into the harshness of nature and the horror of being lost is also a beautifully crafted eulogy to human survival and an ode to the power of the spirit as it echoes between the generations. An unforgettable treat from first page to last -- Janice Hallett
Heartwood is a true wilderness thriller: a missing person quest rendered in agile, extraordinary prose by a novelist at the height of her powers. I found it nearly impossible to put down -- Jennifer Egan
Deftly structured, compelling, and beautifully written, I was absorbed in Heartwood from the outset. Both a meditation on what it might take to hike the Appalachian Trail - and why - and a fascinating insight into the work of the game wardens who are custodians of the forest, I was rooting for Valerie, Beverly and Lena throughout. It was a fantastic read -- Sarah Franklin
Heartwood is a masterfully multi-layered novel-at once a propulsive, nail-biting missing person thriller, an inspiring wilderness survival tale, and a deeply moving exploration of the complexities of mother-daughter bonds. With eloquence, insight, and grace, Amity Gaige uses gorgeous prose and the perfect structure to create one of the most emotionally satisfying and heartwarming stories I've read in a long time. I loved this book -- Angie Kim
Heartwood is mind-bogglingly good, and I tore through it despite my best intentions to savor every page. It's got such a brilliant, enthralling momentum. It's eerie and beautiful and fascinating - a book about survival against every existential threat, about connection despite every force tearing us asunder. I will be pressing it into everybody's hands -- Catherine Newman
Heartwood is a gem of a thousand facets - suspenseful, transporting, tender, and ultimately soul-mending, a novel as curious about birds and moss as it is about the innermost hearts of mothers and daughters. I read it at lightning speed, and now I treasure how the woods of this book persist in my mind -- Megha Majumdar
Heartwood by Amity Gaige is a literary mystery so subtle in its construction set against the beauty and ruggedness of the Maine wilderness. An interwoven story of mothers and daughters, of the nature of relationships and how they can sustain us and sometimes test us. With a remarkable cast of characters, a setting so real and a story so expertly told, Heartwood is a marvel -- Amanda Peters
Heartwood is that rare unicorn of a book: A gripping page-turner of great beauty and insight. Amity Gaige's latest is a story about survival and resilience, but also about the bonds between mothers and daughters-a book that is at once intimate and expansive. I couldn't put it down even as it tore my heart apart -- Janelle Brown

Amity Gaige is the author of four novels, including Sea Wife (Fleet, April 2020). She is the winner of a Fulbright Fellowship and a Guggenheim Fellowship for Fiction. She teaches creative writing at Yale. Her short stories, essays, and book reviews have appeared in publications such as the New York Times, the Guardian, Die Welt, Harper's Bazaar, the Yale Review, Slate.com, One Story, Ploughshares and elsewhere. She lives with her family in West Hartford, Connecticut.

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