Heartwood

ΓÇ£A riveting wilderness suspense novel by a novelist at the height of her powersΓÇ¥ (Jennifer Egan,Pulitzer PrizeΓÇôwinning 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 woodsan experienced Appalachian Trail hiker goes missing. She is forty-two-year-old Valerie Gilliswho has vanished 200 miles from her final destination. Alone in the wildernessValerie pours her thoughts into fracturedpoetic letters to her mother as she battles the elements and struggles to keep hoping. At the heart of the investigation is Beverlythe determined Maine State Game Warden tasked with finding Valeriewho leads the search on the ground. MeanwhileLenaa seventy-six-year-old birdwatcher in a Connecticut retirement communitybecomes an unexpected armchair detective. Roving between these compelling narrativesa puzzle emergesintensifying the frantic searchas ValerieΓÇÖs disappearance may not be accidental. Heartwood is a ΓÇ£gem of a thousand facetsΓÇösuspensefultransportingtenderand ultimately soul-mendingΓÇ¥ (Megan MajumdarNew York Times bestselling author of A Burning) that tells the story of a lost hikerΓÇÖs odyssey and is a moving rendering of each characterΓÇÖs interior journey. The mystery inspires larger questions about the many ways in which we get lostand how we are found. At its coreHeartwood is a redemptive novelwritten with both enormous literary ambition and love.