I have no desire to participate in any type of hiking expedition or culture, especially those that involve hundreds of miles or traversing mountains. However, I find the stories of those who do embark on such journeys incredibly interesting. Having listened to Cheryl Strayed’s account in "Wild," I’m quite familiar with the nuances of trail life. The friendships formed along the way, the journal entries made during breaks, and even the donation boxes outside an outpost that can be life-changing—these all resonate. "Heartwood" recapped many of these scenarios and added more insights into hiking culture, but the primary difference lies in the fear of getting lost.

Valerie did not reach her last checkpoint while hiking the Appalachian Trail through Maine. It is not unusual for a hiker to arrive late to a checkpoint, but when it's clear that something is amiss, a search begins. Beverly, a Maine State Game Warden, is assigned to the search and understands the urgency of finding Valerie within the next few days. Valerie wouldn’t have enough supplies to last more than a week, and if she has strayed far off the trail and become injured, her chances of survival diminish significantly.

Over the following days, the narrative splits between the searchers and Valerie herself, who documents what she believes to be her final moments in a journal for her mother. We discover that there is something more sinister behind her disappearance, and her survival hangs on her unwillingness to give up hope. A crucial tip about her whereabouts arrives late in the search, which might be Beverly’s only chance of finding Valerie.

Although this novel is labeled as a thriller, I would temper those expectations by saying that the thrill element is quite low. Nevertheless, the plot builds anticipation over time, and I became genuinely invested in Valerie’s story. The research into hiking culture is accurate, and I appreciated the inclusion of anecdotes from other hikers who crossed paths with Valerie during her journey.

Gripping page-turner about a woman who goes missing on the Appalachian Trail in the deep woods of Maine. It features three women. Valerie Gillis is a nurse who has suffered burn-out after her experiences in caring for COVID patients. She has hiked from West Virginia to Maine but has not arrived at a checkpoint where she was supposed to meet her husband. Lieutenant Beverly Miller is a Game Warden in charge of the search. She is experiencing personal issues with her sisters and ailing mother. Lena Kucharski is an older woman living at a care facility. She is wheelchair bound, estranged from her daughter, and has difficulty forming friendships.

The story is told in several formats: Valerie keeps a journal, writing letters to her mother to attempt to keep her sanity while she is lost in the wilderness. Bev holds press conferences, directs the overall search effort, and interacts with her staff, relatives of the missing, and other agencies. Lena interacts with her fellow residents and communicates with a nature enthusiast by an online messaging system, where she learns of the missing hiker.

The Author’s Note indicates that the story is fictional but loosely based on a real situation. The story is well-crafted and beautifully written. It addresses the stresses of the pandemic, and the need to heal afterward, without being focused on the pandemic itself. It also focuses on mother-daughter relationships. I found myself engrossed in the story. There were a couple of plot points that stretched belief, but overall, I enjoyed it very much. I look forward to keeping tabs on the author to see what she writes next. I can also recommend Gaige’s Sea Wife.

Valerie is close to finishing the months-long and 2000-plus miles long Appalachian trail when she goes missing. To keep herself sane, she writes unsent letters to her mother, which tells the reader how she got into her predicament.

It’s also told from the point of view of Beverly, the Maine State Game Warden, who had a great track record of finding lost hikers—up until now.

Then, in Connecticut, we have Lena, who lives in a retirement community but keeps to herself as much as possible, preferring her online chats with a stranger. When she hears about Valerie, she does some online sleuthing.

The story unfolds about the rescue of Valerie, but also how these women came to be where they are. Valerie, a nurse who, after Covid, needed some space. Bev, a six-foot-tall woman who succeeded in a male-dominated career. Lena, an intelligent woman who wasn’t also given credit for the way she thought about the world.

NetGalley provided an advance copy of this novel, which RELEASES MARCH 25, 2025.

This is a mystery/wilderness survival story told from three women's point of view. A woman is lost on the Appalachian Trail and a search is mounted to find her. That's the heart of the story but there's much more to be discovered by the reader. This isn't my usual type of book, but I enjoyed it and it was well written. My favorite parts were about the Trail itself since I grew up near part of it and have family that have hiked it.

Set in the Appalachian Trail and told from three POVs, this story revolves around the disappearance of a 42 year old woman, and the desperate search for her.

This book is for those who love quiet, character-driven stories with beautiful prose. It’s a story about nature, survival, and mother daughter relationships, with a very slow burn mystery at its core.

I really wanted to love this, but unfortunately I just wasn’t the right audience for it. While the mystery of what happened to Valerie kept me curious and turning the pages, I was left feeling unsatisfied and underwhelmed with how the story wrapped up. I just felt like I needed more. As someone who is not outdoorsy at all, I did appreciate all the information and knowledge about hiking and the Appalachian Trail that I learned from this book.

Thank you to Netgalley and Simon & Schuster for the opportunity to read this ARC.

I absolutely loved this book. It grabbed me from page one and did not let go. The pace was perfect, I was so into the story I would wake up in the middle of the night to read just to know what was going to happen. The characters are wonderfully written and full of life that you can feel beyond the pages of the book. With this book you will be pulled in by so many different aspects of it. I read a NetGalley copy.

I received an e-ARC and am giving my honest review.

This was incredible. Absolutely stunning. Each character’s POV and storyline were so well written and connected, I loved figuring out more and more about the story and what was happening through each character and how r they told their story. I won’t lie, I did like Valerie’s POV the most, but each and every character was so captivating I didn’t find myself bored once. I loved how many plausible options we had for what had happened up until the end. So many questions, and being given a very satisfying ending with an equally satisfying conclusion to Valerie’s story! I liked trying to figure out how the characters could be/were connected, being wrong or right and seeing what that did. All of the ways that bits to throw the reader off of what the true ending was was so well done, perfectly written in a way that wasn’t drawing even more attention to it, but instead giving us more questions as to what’s going on. With many other books, it feels like red herons are thrown out and then done nothing with or overdone so that the reader is then left feeling disappointed by the ending, but through the entire story you are either wondering how Valerie got into the situation she is, or wondering who got her there. And the split between the two makes it so you never think about either question too long to make it boring. I just adored this, so so well written. Not just the thriller but the grief the parents felt, the onlookers’ emotions and feelings, Lieutenant Bev and her fierce determination and guilt. Every single character was beautifully written and fleshed out.
Incredible job to the author. This was so, so good.

“Heartwood” by Amity Gaige is an emotional story of three women, all of them lost in the past, one of them physically lost in the present. It’s also a reflective story of mother/daughter relationships, good ones and bad ones.

The major POVs:
Valerie Gillis, a nurse burned out by her COVID experiences, has already hiked 1900 miles of the Appalachian Trail. Nearing the end in Maine, she fails to show up at a checkpoint where her husband was waiting. Her POV consists of journal letters to her mother while she’s lost.

Lt. Beverly Miller, State Game Warden, one of the first female officers, knows that 97% of the time they find a lost person within 24 hours. Valerie, however, has fallen into the 3% of lost more than a day and maybe never found. Where she stepped off the trail is an area so remote that it will take search teams several hours just to get to her last known sighting. We learn a lot about the motivations of searchers — “A lot of folks who get into search and rescue have an early memory of watching someone perish. Mainers search for each other in the woods. It’s what we do.”

Lena Kucharski, a reluctant online sleuth, is a 76 year old wheelchair bound resident of a care home hundreds of miles away in Massachusetts. She’s drawn to the case because Valerie’s profile (a 42 year old nurse) resembles her estranged daughter. Lena has been communicating on Reddit/Telegram with a forager in Maine who might know the search area.

Other voices include “Santo,” a trail buddy; her husband Gregory; and her elderly parents.

Loosely based on the story of a 66 year old hiker who went missing in 2013 on the Appalachian Trail. Even so, the story is touching and suspenseful coming from three distinct voices and the author brilliantly weaves the three perspectives together. We feel their heartbreak and frustration.

There’s lots of reflection on missed personal opportunities and the force of nature. Since the timeline is just after the worst times of the pandemic and the isolation and grief of that period is still evident. The three main characters are all solitary by choice. It’s possible you might not totally identify with Val, Bev, or Lena, but each one of them, even after tears and despair, believes in some sort of hope.

This is an emotional book, but well-constructed and a fairly easy read. I was fascinated by the mechanics of a lost person search, and gratified with every clue that brings everyone closer to Valerie. 4.5 stars. Some of the past introspection seemed a tad long, so one-half star less than the full 5.

Literary Pet Peeve Checklist:
Green Eyes (only 2% of the real world, yet it seems like 90% of all fictional females): YES Badger has ethereal green eyes.
Horticultural Faux Pas (plants out of season or growing zones, like daffodils in autumn or bougainvillea in Alaska): NO There quite a bit about foraging for survival in the book (although I probably wouldn’t eat grubs, either).

Thank you to Simon & Schuster and NetGalley for an advanced reader copy!

Thoroughly gripping in plot and writing, this novel is told through multiple viewpoints - a Maine Game Warden who organizes the search for a missing Appalachian Trail hiker, the hiker's increasingly non-sensical journal entries, interview transcripts from people who encountered her on the Trail, and the story of an elderly woman following the search as she reckons with the sporadic of her online friend. As the narratives intertwine and reach conclusions, the emotional lives of them all are exposed, evaluated, and interpreted by the reader. Incredibly compelling, I couldn't put it down and loved it as much as I did the author's novel Schroeder several years ago.

This book kept me up past my bedtime! A gripping story of survival, featuring mothers and their daughters and the many ways that particular relationship can go. Valerie, Lena, and Lt Bev are the main characters, with a great supporting cast, especially the all too brief scenes with Bev's family. Valerie is the one who is lost on the AT, but the other two are equally lost and looking for their place.

This book would appeal to those who love dense storylines with lyrical writing. The storyline itself is compelling and full of twists and turns and Gage does a great job of building suspense. However, I struggled to keep my pace up with this one due to its weighty writing/content.

Thank you, Simon and Schuster, for the copy of Heartwood by Amity Gaige. I could tell as soon as I started reading Heartwood that I would love it. I’m not sure if it was the lyrical writing, the characterization of Valerie, Lena, and Beverly, or the realistic settings, but I knew I wanted to immerse myself in the story and never stop reading. The characters were so well-written that I felt like I could meet them in real life or see them on the TV news. I liked reading the interviews with Santo and the excerpts of the media coverage. The Appalachian Trail came alive and I could feel how grueling the hiking was. There are certainly readers who will be upset that this isn’t what they call a thriller: no serial killers, no shocking “twists”, or those other things popcorn thrillers are supposed to have. Instead, this is a well-plotted, suspenseful novel that I will remember for a long time. 5 stars

While I did find myself reaching for this book, which is the mark of a good reading experience for me, there were too many things that bugged me to prevent me from giving it more than a so-so review. The thing that bugged me the most was the ick feeling I got reading the Santo sections - I just couldn’t get past the way a white female author wrote this black man. In the acknowledgments she credits the book Black Faces, White Spaces by Carolyn Finney which is a study of the relationship between black people and the outdoors, and some of the ideas presented in Heartwood that stemmed from this read were interesting. But I just couldn’t get past the language she put in this character’s mouth. He felt like a stereotype and his sections pulled me out of the read. I also rolled my eyes a few times at some of the plot turns, particularly the big one at the end which I guessed early on (and I am not a thriller reader or generally good at this kind of puzzle reading!).

On the plus side, this book is a study in crafting a sense of place and the extensive research the author did into the game wardens in Maine showed.

Overall, if you’re looking for a tension-building read and love a forest/woodland setting, you might enjoy this, but I’m not going to be recommending this one.

Amity Gaige’s **Heartwood** is an engaging blend of survival, mystery, and self-discovery set in the stunning Maine wilderness. The story follows Valerie Gillis, an experienced Appalachian Trail hiker who mysteriously disappears, sparking a gripping search.

The book features three perspectives: Valerie’s letters to her estranged mother, Beverly, a dedicated Maine Game Warden, and Lena, a retired birdwatcher turned amateur detective. This mix boosts the tension and explores themes of resilience and obsession.

Valerie’s letters reveal her struggles and determination, while Beverly highlights the realities of search efforts. Lena adds warmth and intrigue, making the story even richer. As their narratives intertwine, it raises questions about whether Valerie’s disappearance was an accident or something more sinister. **Heartwood** offers a thoughtful look at finding peace in nature and meaning in unexpected places, making it a great read for literary fiction and mystery fans.

I was truly blown away by the writing in this book. It's often that I'm impressed with the STORY, but its RARE that I'm truly impressed and taken aback by how beautiful the writing itself is. This is why I love literary novels. Literary fiction is defined as "novels that emphasize style, character, and theme over plot." This is 100% the case here. The plot itself is captivating, but the writing truly stole the show, in the best way possible.

I loved every second of reading this book. I was immediately captivated, I never lost interest, and I cried at the end. I really can't ask for anything more in a book.

The way that this story is told using a variety of mixed media will keep readers turning pages. Some of it is told in letters, interview format, first person POV, online chats, reddit posts, etc. I'm telling you this because I know many, like me, are a SUCKER for mixed media books! I'm sure this will also be amazing on audio, so I'll have to do a re-read when it comes out!

The very surface level plot is that the story revolves around a missing hiker on the Appalachian Trail and the desperate search effort to find her.

This one is going to be hard to to top for favorite book of 2025 and it's only January!

A contemplative read about mother's and daughters and what happens when you feel loved and seen and heard. While the story itself is about a woman who is missing on the Appalachian Trail, it's really a story of how these women see themselves in the lives they lead and how they view their relationships with their mothers and how those relationships seemed to color a lot of the way they moved through the world. And as deep as that may sound (or not), it was not as profound as I thought it would be...interestingly enough. I enjoyed it and found the ending to be satisfying, but I think I was hoping for some sort of deep truth, and that didn't happen for me. Instead what I got was a solid read that was entertaining and thoughtful.

Got excited because I love Maine, and I saw a documentary on Geraldine Largay years ago with my dad that I was interested in, don't want to say I enjoyed it, a woman died, but I still remember it years on. Either way, this didn't hit me

Valerie Gillis, a middle age nurse, has decided to hike the infamous Appalachian Trail solo. Before she knows it she becomes totally lost. The search and rescue department of the Maine Game Warden bureau puts their best person, Warden Beverly, in charge of the search. Meanwhile, an elderly resident at a nearby retirement facility, Lena, is pulled into this tragic dilemma.

The author weaves this story line among these three woman and brings, in my opinion, a female overview to the entire narrative. Mother Nature is also front and center as the beauty, lushness and danger of the Maine woods overshadows the search. How do they all contribute to the final outcome? The author deftly pulls the reader through the debilitating search as these women maneuver to a striking conclusion.

2025 is the year of literary fiction/thrillers! I am loving this writing style a la "The God of the Woods" and this was a blast to read! The pace was great, and I enjoyed the mixed media of chapters, journal entries, and interviews. My only criticism is that there wasn't a ton of follow up on the military training camp. I wish there was more of a why to that being the reason of the missed hiker. It felt like the author just made that up as a reason rather than connecting it more closely to other characters.

Heartwood is a story about a woman, Valerie Gillis, lost in the woods but it is really more about the people searching for her than Valerie herself. During the search, we hear from Valerie herself in the form of letters she writes while lost. Lt Bev is the game warden in charge of the search. She is my favorite character. And there is Lena who is an elderly woman who accidentally joins the search through an internet friend. I love the setting and the variety of characters contributing to the story, but it also ended up making feel a little detached from them. I wanted to know more about some of them, I just didn't feel as connected to them as I would have liked. I liked how they all tied together at the end. Overall, a good book that I didn't want to put down! Thank you to NetGalley for allowing me to read an advance copy of Heartwood.