Coming April 1, 2025
“Heartwood is a riveting wilderness suspense novel: a missing person quest rendered in agile, extraordinary prose by a novelist at the height of her powers. I found it nearly impossible to put down.”
“I can’t recall the last time I’ve been so dazzled by a novel. Heartwood is a literary thriller of the highest order. Amity Gaige’s writing is both eloquent and authoritative. This is an ABSOLUTE MUST-READ. You will thank me.”
In the heart of the Maine Woods, forty-two-year-old Valerie Gillis has vanished two hundred 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 hope alive.
In charge of the investigation is Beverly Miller, the determined Maine State Game Warden leading 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.
PRAISE
“Heartwood by Amity Gaige is a literary mystery so subtle in its construction, set against the beauty and ruggedness of the Maine wilderness. An interwoven story of mothers and daughters, of the nature of relationships and how they can sustain us and sometimes test us. With a remarkable cast of characters, a setting so real and a story so expertly told, Heartwood is a marvel.”
“Heartwood is a masterfully multi-layered novel—at once a propulsive, nail-biting missing person thriller, an inspiring wilderness survival tale, and a deeply moving exploration of the complexities of mother-daughter bonds. With eloquence, insight, and grace, Amity Gaige uses gorgeous prose and the perfect structure to create one of the most emotionally satisfying and heartwarming stories I’ve read in a long time. I loved this book.”
“ Heartwood is a gem of a thousand facets—suspenseful, transporting, tender, and ultimately soul-mending, a novel as curious about birds and moss as it is about the innermost hearts of mothers and daughters. I read it at lightning speed, and now I treasure how the woods of this book persist in my mind.”
“Amity Gaige’s Heartwood shines as an evocative and heart-stopping wilderness thriller. Yet this journey into the harshness of nature and the horror of being lost is also a beautifully crafted eulogy to human survival and an ode to the power of the spirit as it echoes between the generations. An unforgettable treat from first page to last.”
“Heartwood is mind-bogglingly good, and I tore through it despite my best intentions to savor every page. It’s got such a brilliant, enthralling momentum. It’s eerie and beautiful and fascinating – a book about survival against every existential threat, about connection despite every force tearing us asunder. I will be pressing it into everybody’s hands.”
“Heartwood is that rare unicorn of a book: A gripping page-turner of great beauty and insight. Amity Gaige’s latest is a story about survival and resilience, but also about the bonds between mothers and daughters — a book that is at once intimate and expansive. I couldn’t put it down even as it tore my heart apart.”