Heartwood A Read with Jenna Pick, Amity Gaige
Heartwood A Read with Jenna Pick, Amity Gaige
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Heartwood (A Read with Jenna Pick)

Author: Amity Gaige

Narrator: Justine Lupe, Alma Cuervo, Rebecca Lowman, Ali Andre Ali, Cary Hite, Helen Laser

Unabridged: 8 hr 45 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 04/01/2025


Synopsis

“The best thriller of 2025.” —The Boston Globe * “Genius.” —The Washington Post

“A literary thriller of the highest order” (Elin Hilderbrand, New York Times bestselling author of The Perfect Couple), Heartwood takes you on a gripping journey as a search and rescue team race against time after an experienced hiker mysteriously disappears on the Appalachian Trail in Maine.

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 heart of the investigation is Beverly, the determined Maine State Game Warden tasked with finding Valerie, who leads the search on the ground. Meanwhile, Lena, a seventy-six-year-old birdwatcher in a Connecticut 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.

Heartwood is a “gem of a thousand facets—suspenseful, transporting, tender, and ultimately soul-mending,” (Megan Majumdar, New York Times bestselling author of A Burning) that tells the story of a lost hiker’s odyssey and is a moving rendering of each character’s interior journey. The mystery inspires larger questions about the many ways in which we get lost, and how we are found. At its core, Heartwood is an “unputdownable” (Real Simple) and redemptive novel, written with both enormous literary ambition and love.

About Amity Gaige

Heartwood is Amity Gaige’s fifth novel. It was selected by Jenna Bush Hager as a Read with Jenna pick for April 2025 and became an instant national bestseller. Amity is the author of four previous novels, O My Darling, The Folded World, Schroder, and Sea WifeSea Wife was a 2020 New York Times Notable Book and a finalist for the Mark Twain American Voice Award. Schroder was also a New York Times Notable Book and a best book of 2013 according to The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, among others, and was shortlisted for UK’s Folio Prize in 2014. In 2018, Amity was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in Fiction. She lives in West Hartford, Connecticut, with her family and teaches creative writing at Yale.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Nilufer on May 21, 2025

This slow-burn, multi-POV mystery and suspense novel revolves around the disappearance of 42-year-old Valerie Gillis near the Appalachian Trail. Her husband, expecting to meet her at their designated point, grows increasingly worried when she fails to arrive. We gain insight into Valerie’s harrowing......more

I feel like everyone is writing a story about someone lost in the woods lately!? Is it just me? I just couldn’t stay immersed in this story. I was bored to death. It felt like Cast Away but in the woods and with moths instead of volley ball. But drag the pacing. Back to listening to the Karen Read tr......more

Goodreads review by Barbara on May 05, 2025

Nicely done Simone & Schuster audio! “Heartwood” by Amity Gaige captured my attention because it tells the fictional story of a missing 42-year-old hiker on the Appalachian Trail. Valerie Gillis had been hiking for three months when she mysteriously disappears in Maine. I spend summers in a tiny New......more

Goodreads review by Michael on April 09, 2025

A Grounded Sparrow "Heartwood" tells the story of the search for Valerie Gillis, a 42-year-old hiker known as "Sparrow," who vanishes while navigating the challenging Appalachian Trail. In charge of conducting the search is Beverly, a Maine State Game Warden. A third key player is Lena, a seventy-six......more

Goodreads review by Summer on April 10, 2025

Heartwood is a genre-bending, character-driven mystery that explores the human connection to nature, the mother-daughter bond, friendship, and self-exploration. I really enjoyed all of the characters and reading from their perspectives. In my opinion, Lena was the star of this story and my favorite c......more