Heartwood

Heartwood by Amity Gaige
Published by Simon & Schuster
Publication date: April 1, 2025
Genres: Book Clubs, Fiction, Contemporary, Literary, Suspense

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…the act of walking while carrying the weight of my pack had wrung all the sadness out of me, the sadness for myself and for the world, and that in that moment, I was totally without stress, confusion, or agitation, and that I was perfectly, blamelessly, whole. The trail transformed me.

The Appalachian Trail is known as one of the greatest hiking experiences. For many it’s a rite of passage, an opportunity to disconnect from the world and find one’s self through rigorous physical trials and time alone in nature. A middle-aged woman is one of those, but in Heartwood author Amity Gaige uses her disappearance to create a tapestry of three women each in a different stage of life, but all circling, lost in an internal struggle.

The first is Valerie, a nurse three months into her hike and nearing the end. Her husband has been supporting her, meeting her at specified locations to re-up her supplies, but beyond that she has traveled largely alone. Now, she’s failed to show up at a checkpoint in Maine. Beverly, a State Game Warden with 30 years’ experience, is brought in to head up the search and rescue efforts. Lastly, there’s Lena a wheelchair bound elderly woman who keeps her love of nature alive in online groups of likeminded people and is following the case closely for her own reasons.

In Heartwood Gaige mirrors the lush and tangled undergrowth of the Maine forest in the lives of Valerie, Beverly, and Lena. Each is facing a cost for choices made. The practicality and determination Valerie needs to stay alive is juxtaposed with the hours when a wandering mind leads to self-reflection surrounding possible death. She copes by writing letters to her mother, first in a small journal and later, composed in her head. Beverly is laser focused on the search, but as the days pass and neither humans, dogs, helicopters, or planes can find any trace of Valerie, she finds herself stripped of the inner fortitude that defines her. She’s left comparing how hard she’s fought to get to this position in her career against the price she’s paid in her personal life. Her own mother’s illness is a constant presence, but one she ignores.  Lena’s path is obscured by the towering pines of a self-imposed internal isolation. Valerie’s situation gives rise to painful memories from her past and what her decisions have cost her.

Each of these women is utterly alone, whether physically or emotionally. Gaige does the difficult work of trekking through their innermost thoughts and history, unearthing the clues that bring them to life on the page. There is suspense in Heartwood, but with the exception of one aspect, it’s not a thriller. The same patience required to hike a long trail, the desire to slow and witness what grows in the silence of the page is needed to absorb this story. It’s not a long book or any kind of slog, but it does not have the momentum of a thriller. If, at first, I was put-off by this realization I soon shed any expectations and let the story of these three disparate women unfold naturally. That they do so with the majesty and danger of the forest as a backdrop only reinforced the sense of nature’s power to be ultimately restorative. A quiet, steady novel Heartwood was not the trail I expected, but one I was gratified to have found and followed.

 

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*I received a free copy of this book from Simon & Schuster in exchange for an honest review.*

 

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