Book Summary and Reviews of Heartwood by Amity Gaige

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Cathryn_Conroy

Taut, Thoughtful, and Simming with Tension: A Gripping Summer Read
Where ever you are going on vacation this summer—road trip, beach, mountains, hiking the Appalachian Trail—this is the book for you. Oh, wait. Nix the AT. If you're hiking that, you might not want to read this thriller about Valerie Gillis, a 42-year-old registered nurse, nicknamed Sparrow, who hiked the Appalachian Trail to help heal and recover from Covid trauma and then…disappeared some 200 miles from her final destination at the northern terminus of the trail. Poof! She just seemingly vanished into the unforgiving wilderness of Maine.

Written by Amity Gaige, this is a twisty-turny, suspenseful thriller as hundreds of trained searchers on foot, as well as planes, helicopters, and K-9 teams, comb hundreds of acres of deeply forested woods, streams, and ridges in Maine during two weeks in August. Why did Sparrow veer off the Appalachian Trail? Was it a simple mistake or did something more sinister happen to her? As each day passes, her chances of living through this greatly diminish.

The story, which is more of a slow-burn than it is action-packed, is told primarily in the first-person by Maine State Game Warden Beverly Miller, a 57-year-old single woman who has devoted her 30-year career to finding lost people in the treacherous, deep forests of Maine. But we also learn tidbits about Sparrow from the journal entries she makes—a journal that is later found with her abandoned backpack.

And as much as this is a thriller against time to find a missing hiker and the quest for wilderness survival at its most basic level, it is also a love story about mothers and daughters and the many joys and complications of this relationship.

This beautifully written novel is so much more than a compelling page-turner that will keep you up past your bedtime. It is also introspective. Gaige has fleshed out the characters so we get to know their backstories, their hopes and dreams, and their crushing disappointments.

Taut, thoughtful, and simmering with tension, this is a gripping summer read.

Janine_S

Gritty and well written
In the heart of the Appalachian Trail, a hiker goes missing and a frantic search is on to find her. Heartwood explores the minds, hearts and souls of those searching for Valerie, the missing hiker, as well as Valerie herself. Told from different perspectives, the book delves into examining how we get lost and are found. However, three women form the crux of the story with a theme of mother-daughter relationships. Valerie's story is told through a series of love letters to her mother, Janet, who is almost a mythic person in her mind. “Sometimes, in your lap, I would press my hand against your chest so that I could feel the center of you — your heartwood, your innermost substance, like the core of a tree that keeps it standing." "Lt Bev" Miller is searching for Valerie but silences the calls from her "ma." Bev's relationship with her mother is complete as she strives to win her approval.

Bev's mother doesn't understand her ambition to achieve in a man's world (she's in the forestry service). Bev is folksy and a dedicated person who care deeply about others. But it is Lena Kucharski, a 76-year old retired scientist who becomes integral to the novel as an arm-chair quarterback (quite literally as she's in a motorize wheelchair) in the search. Lena is estranged from her daughter, Christine, whom she's treated rather poorly being more scientist than mother. As the story unfolds and these three lives intertwine, we see the no life is unattached whether to others or to nature. This was a gritty and well written novel. I listened to it but I think this is one I should have read.

Other books by Amity Gaige at BookBrowse