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Heartwood

'nearly impossible to put down' Jennifer Egan
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Heartwood

By: Amity Gaige
Narrated by: Ali Andre Ali, Alma Cuervo, Cary Hite, Helen Laser, Justine Lupe, Rebecca Lowman
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'An unforgettable treat' JANICE HALLETT

'Beautifully written . . . moving and suspenseful' TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT

'Gripping . . . each strand adds tension and drama' GOOD HOUSEKEEPING

'One of my favourite recent reads' BARBARA KINGSOLVER, GUARDIAN

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 investigation is Beverly, the determined Maine State Game Warden tasked with finding Valerie. 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.

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

'A powerful story of being lost in the wilderness' SAINSBURY'S MAGAZINE

'An absolute must-read' ELIN HILDEBRAND Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Mystery Thriller & Suspense
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Critic reviews

One of my favourite recent reads is Heartwood . . . Through its unique structure and beautiful writing, it pulls off the impossible trick of being both meditative and suspenseful
Both a gripping story and a flawlessly integrated feat of research . . . beautifully written . . . moving and suspenseful
Gripping . . . uses its isolated setting to great effect . . . each strand adds tension and drama
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
This is impossible to put down . . . tense and dramatic
A powerful story of being lost in the wilderness
A terrifically moving and tense thriller . . . genius
[T]he best thriller of 2025 . . . a knock-out of a book
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
Gaige's ability to introduce suspense and build it continuously, page after page, is astonishing . . . [a] complex, thrilling work
Unputdownable
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
A winning portrait of a woman, and community, in peril
Multifaceted characters and poetic prose enhance Gaige's tender meditations on aging and mother-daughter relationships
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
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.
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
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
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