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Eventually, I understood that motherhood, as the child imagines it, is unperformable. No woman is a star. No woman is a god or a tree or a magician. But for a while, in your arms, the universe was the right size, and I knew where I was.

Heartwood is such a gorgeous book. It’s a literary, propulsive, and emotionally resonant story about a woman lost on the Maine leg of the Appalachian Trail and two other women invested in her fate. As the search for Valerie drags on, Maine warden Bev begins to lose hope of finding her alive, while down in Connecticut, a retirement community resident named Lena finds herself drawn into the search for Valerie in unexpected ways.

Weaving seamlessly between the voices of the three women � Valerie’s through letters to her mother, crafted in her trail journal � and utilizing transcripts from interviews and online exchanges, Heartwood is an unforgettable story about resilience, love, and motherhood that’s profoundly affecting. Amity Gaige’s prose is luminous and meaningful, full of deep insights into the relationships between mothers and daughters and the complex beauty of self-discovery. And it’s also suspenseful, an urgent missing person narrative in which it’s clear that time is running out. But most of all, it’s a powerful character study about three women, each strong in their own way, and their personal struggles and successes. The characters are richly-crafted, beautifully flawed, and so heartbreakingly vulnerable.

My suggestion is to take your time with Heartwood, no matter how desperately you want to know Valerie’s fate. Read it slowly, savor the stunning writing, pause to digest the poignant insights and tender character moments. Let the book wash over you and relish the fact that novels like this just don’t come around very often. Thank you to Simon & Schuster for the early reading opportunity.