Heartwood

De: Amity Gaige

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

“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.

©2025 Amity Gaige (P)2025 Simon & Schuster Audio

Enjoyed the characters.

I really enjoyed the story and narration, Well written with good and interesting character development.

Lost on th Appalachian Trail

I liked that there were many important characters read by different voices. The different personalities were well defined. The story kept my attention throughout.

!

I loved this story and the diversity of characters and their interwoven paths. Beautifully written and uplifting!
The voice actors were exceptional!

Beautifully written!

I loved all the various characters and their views of what was happening. Got a real kick out of the lost hiker's trail mate.

Mothers & Daughters in Nature.

A beautiful heartfelt book. I will never forget the characters. I look forward to more books to read from this author,

Beautiful story

Intriguing; exciting; hard to put down! Well-written and in a style so unlike other books I’ve read. I truly enjoyed this book. Heartfelt; emotional; uplifting. So glad I chose to get this book!

Hard to follow

This book was super difficult for me to follow, too much changing of the characters…also lacked any climactic element.

Great story!

I really enjoyed this! It’s definitely a thriller with a mystery element. A hiker goes missing.

Solid but never quite excellent

It was a good story with thoughtful characters, but the conceits were a little hard for me. The story was best when it went into the wonders of the ordinary of relationships. The “twist” wasn’t really one (it was rather obvious) and it was the least effective element because secret government training camps feel like they came from an airport novel for finance bros, not this book…

Great story

this was a great audible book, the voice actors were spot on EXCEPT whomever decided the actors for Cody and Gregory were acceptable. UGH it was the only thing about this book I hated. I Would cringe every time they would come into the story. Santo was FABULOUS though :)