Heartwood (A Read with Jenna Pick)
A Novel
Amity Gaige
- A
- READ
- WITH
- JENNA
- TODAY
- SHOW
- BOOK
- CLUB
- PICK!“You
- will
- open
- this
- book
- and
- you
- will
- not
- stop
- reading.”
- —Jenna
- Bush
- Hager“A
- riveting
- wilderness
- suspense
- novel
- by
- a
- novelist
- at
- the
- height
- of
- her
- powers”
- (Jennifer
- Egan,
- Pulitzer
- Prize–winning
- author
- of
- The
- Candy
- House),
- Heartwood
- takes
- you
- on
- a
- gripping
- journey
- as
- a
- search
- and
- rescue
- team
- race
- against
- time
- when
- 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
- a
- redemptive
- novel,
- written
- with
- both
- enormous
- literary
- ambition
- and love.
