HeartwoodHeartwood

"In the heart of the Maine woods, forty-two-year-old Valerie Gillis has vanished along the Appalachian Trail two hundred miles from her 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. At the center of the investigation into Valerie's disappearance is Beverly, 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. As the story alternates among these compelling and vivid voices, a puzzle emerges, intensifying the frantic search...as it appears Valerie's disappearance may not have been accidental. Heartwood is not only the story of a lost hiker's odyssey but also a powerful ode to mothers and daughters and to the solace of nature. A redemptive novel for our times, Heartwood inspires larger questions about the many ways in which we become lost and how we are found"--Jacket flap.