In her fifth novel, Heartwood, Amity Gaige weaves a spellbinding tale of survival that brilliantly straddles the line between literary fiction and suspense thriller. Like the growth rings of a tree that give the novel its title, the narrative builds layer upon layer, creating a rich exploration of human connection, resilience, and the wilderness both within and without.
When 42-year-old nurse Valerie Gillis vanishes from the Appalachian Trail in Maine, just 200 miles from completing her ambitious flip-flop thru-hike, the mystery of her disappearance unfolds through three distinct perspectives: Valerie herself, writing urgent, poetic letters to her mother from the wilderness; Lieutenant Beverly Miller, the stoic female game warden leading the search; and Lena Kucharski, a 76-year-old amateur naturalist and unexpected armchair detective who becomes entangled in the case from her Connecticut retirement community.
Structural Brilliance: Three Women, Three Journeys
Gaige’s narrative architecture is one of the novel’s greatest strengths. By alternating between these three women’s perspectives, she creates a tapestry of voices that each reflect different forms of isolation and connection:
Valerie’s Wilderness: Trapped in the Maine woods after being abducted by a mentally ill young man with delusions about a “Night Army,” Valerie’s voice emerges through journal entries addressed to her mother. These sections are arguably the novel’s most beautiful, filled with raw emotion and nature observations as Valerie’s body weakens but her spirit persists. Her reflections on motherhood, anxiety, her nursing career during COVID, and her changing relationship with her husband are tender and profound: “I was built to feel, so I felt. I was built to give, so I gave.”
Lt. Bev’s Authority: The 57-year-old game warden’s sections provide the procedural backbone of the narrative, detailing the increasingly desperate search operation while revealing her own struggles with identity, purpose, and her complicated relationship with her dying mother. As the first female lieutenant in the Maine Warden Service, Bev’s story explores the challenges of being a woman in a traditionally male role: “For many years, as a tall, quiet woman with no children, a female keeper of the woods and waters, I felt a little hypothetical, even to myself.”
Lena’s Distance: Perhaps the most surprising perspective comes from elderly Lena, whose online relationship with a young forager using the handle “TerribleSilence” unexpectedly connects her to the case. Her intellectual curiosity and unresolved grief over her estrangement from her daughter provide emotional depth and unexpected resolution to the novel.
Thematic Resonance: The Heart of the Woods
Heartwood by Amity Gaige is preoccupied with several interconnected themes that elevate it beyond a simple missing-person narrative:
Mother-daughter relationships: Each protagonist grapples with maternal bonds—Valerie writing to her mother, Bev dealing with her dying mother, Lena estranged from her daughter Christine
Wilderness and survival: Both literal (Valerie’s struggle in the woods) and metaphorical (surviving grief, isolation, and purpose)
Identity and belonging: Questions of what makes a life meaningful and where one truly belongs
Resilience and transformation: How humans adapt to extreme circumstances and emerge changed
What makes these explorations so effective is how Gaige grounds them in vivid sensory detail and psychological truth. When Valerie observes, “I am now a connoisseur of the eye level. The forest floor outside my tent flap is a miniature world,” we feel her simultaneous diminishment and expansion—her physical weakness forcing a new kind of attention that reveals unexpected wonders.
Stylistic Mastery with Minor Missteps
Gaige’s prose shines brightest in Valerie’s sections, where her voice achieves a lyrical intensity that captures both desperation and wonder. Consider this passage about moss: “When I grow up, I want to be a moss. Sometimes I brave the mosquitoes and I pull myself out of my tent just to knead my lush moss mat. Such colors. My moss is a juicy emerald green.” This blend of humor, observation, and philosophical musing creates a character whose inner life feels completely authentic.
The novel’s format—which includes not just traditional narration but also interviews, tip line transcripts, and other documents—lends a realistic urgency to the investigation while allowing for shifts in tone and perspective. This approach echoes Gaige’s previous work in novels like Schroder (2013) and Sea Wife (2020), where she similarly employed innovative narrative structures to explore complex psychological terrain.
However, the novel occasionally struggles with pacing, particularly in the middle sections as the search drags on without results. Some readers may find the repetitive nature of the search updates diminishes tension rather than builds it. Additionally, while the resolution offers emotional satisfaction, some plot elements—particularly regarding Daniel Means’ mental illness—feel slightly underdeveloped, treating his condition somewhat simplistically as a plot device rather than exploring it with the same nuance given to other characters.
Characters Who Linger Beyond the Page
Where Heartwood by Amity Gaige truly excels is in its character development. Even minor figures like Ruben “Santo” Serrano, Valerie’s trail companion who left the hike early, emerge as fully dimensional humans through brief interview transcripts. His observations about being a Black, overweight hiker on the predominantly white trail add cultural texture while his genuine connection with Valerie provides emotional stakes.
The three main characters are rendered with particular care:
Valerie: Far from a simple victim, she emerges as a complex woman struggling with the aftermath of nursing through COVID, questioning her marriage, and finding herself through the challenges of the trail. Her interactions with the delusional Daniel Means show compassion even in her fear.
Lt. Bev: Her evolution from dutiful search leader to someone questioning her life choices creates a compelling arc. Her relationship with retired warden Mike provides both comic relief and emotional ballast.
Lena: Perhaps the most surprising character, Lena’s journey from isolation to connection (both with her online friend and eventually with her estranged daughter and grandson) offers the novel’s most unexpected emotional payoff.
Where Heartwood Stands in Gaige’s Work
Readers familiar with Gaige’s previous novels will recognize her preoccupation with intimate relationships under duress. Like Sea Wife, which explored a marriage unraveling during a sailing adventure, Heartwood by Amity Gaige uses the wilderness as both setting and metaphor for human struggles. And like Schroder, it examines the ways humans narrate their lives to themselves and others.
What distinguishes Heartwood is its broader canvas and more optimistic outlook. Where her earlier works often focused intensely on failed relationships, here Gaige allows for genuine connection and redemption without sacrificing complexity.
Final Assessment: A Forest Worth Getting Lost In
Heartwood succeeds brilliantly as both a propulsive mystery and a meditative literary novel. Its multi-voiced structure creates a rich reading experience that questions how we survive isolation—whether in the physical wilderness or the emotional one.
The novel’s closing image of Lt. Bev reading Valerie’s journal by the fireplace, having left her career to return to family, suggests that the true heartwood—the sturdy core that keeps us standing—is our connection to others, however imperfect.
For readers who appreciate authors like Ann Patchett, Emily St. John Mandel, or Richard Powers—writers who blend storytelling momentum with emotional and intellectual depth—Heartwood by Amity Gaige will be a welcome addition to their libraries. It stands as Gaige’s most ambitious and accomplished work to date, asking profound questions about survival, connection, and what it means to be found.
Strengths and Limitations
What Works:
Gaige’s gorgeous prose, especially in Valerie’s sections
The innovative three-perspective structure
Complex, believable characters with distinctive voices
Vivid wilderness descriptions that make the setting come alive
Emotional depth without sentimentality
What Could Be Stronger:
Occasional pacing issues during the middle of the search
Some secondary characters (particularly Gregory) feel slightly underdeveloped
Treatment of mental illness through Daniel’s character lacks the nuance found elsewhere
A few plot coincidences strain credibility
In Summary: A Novel That Finds Its Way Home
Like the search for Valerie Gillis, reading Heartwood by Amity Gaige rewards patience and attention. It’s a novel that understands both the terror and beauty of being lost—in nature, in grief, in purpose—and offers no easy answers but plenty of genuine hope.
In an age of disconnection, Gaige has crafted a powerful reminder that even in our most isolated moments, we are writing letters to someone, waiting to be found. Heartwood by Amity Gaige is that rare literary thriller that satisfies both emotionally and intellectually, leaving readers with much to contemplate long after the search has ended.
Amity Gaige is the author of five novels including the acclaimed “Sea Wife,” “Schroder,” “The Folded World,” and “O My Darling.” Her work has been translated into eighteen languages and has received numerous awards including a Guggenheim Fellowship. She teaches creative writing at Yale University.