Want to Take a Hot Summer Hike Vicariously? Read the Novel, Heartwood

What happens when...

What happens when Valerie Gillis, a 42-year-old nurse, traumatized by the solitary deaths she witnessed during the Pandemic, decides to hike the Appalachian Trail to heal and then goes missing without a trace? What happens when Lt. Beverly Miller, a Senior Maine Game Warden with a spectacular recovery rate for lost hikers, can't find the lost hiker despite large search parties and aerial reconnaissance? And what happens when Lena, a 76-year-old naturalist (and crotchety woman) living in a senior living facility, gets unexpected insight into the case?

I'll tell you what happens. You get a slow-burn of a mystery and an intense tale of survival, determination, and the brutal but beautiful world of nature.

If you want to take a hot summer hike, vicariously, then read Amity Gage's novel, Heartwood.

Three Women; Three Stories

Three strong women predominate in the narration of the novel, Heartwood.

First, we have Valerie Gillis, the hiker. The forest service picks up occasional clues from the notes she makes in guestbooks or the things that other hikers remember about her. We know she's a nurse, and her husband is a devoted partner, supporting Valerie's hike by waiting for her at towns, re-supplying her needs, and being available to meet her in case of any emergency.

Then, there's Lt. Beverly Miller, a dedicated Maine Game Warden. She is a strong leader of search teams for the frequently missing hikers and a veteran of solving problems precipitated by the grueling physical trek on the Appalachian Trail.

Finally, Lena Kucharski enters the foray to find Valerie. It's a strange fit, too. How can a 76-year-old woman who navigates daily life only with an electric wheelchair be part of a search in the rugged wilderness? Lena's story meanders more than the other two women's narrative, but it's by far the most interesting. One review compared her to Olive Kittredge, the heroine of Elizabeth Strout's Pulitzer Prize Winner. Like Olive, Lena doesnt' quite fit in, is fiercely independent, often acerbic, and has atypical interests.

If you were lost and alone, who would you write to?

God forbid I would ever be lost without paper and a writing implement! If I were lost like Valerie, I would need to record my feelings and write letters to my daughters, my sisters, my friends.

Valerie Gillis has a writer's heart, too. (Another hiker says she had "the soul of a poet.") Her journal contains beautiful observations of the world around her, the state of her depleted body, and her fight for survival. Even more lovely are the letters she writes to her mother, filled with memories, gratitude, and love.

Her mother was a hero and a comfort to her, and Valerie's trail name reflects that connection since she calls herself "Sparrow," a nickname her mother gave her as a child. r.

Other Mother Issues

Both of the other female narrators, Lt. Bev and Lena, have mother issues, too.

Lt. Bev took on the role of mother to her two younger sisters because her own mother was unstable, addicted to drugs, and not present for her daughters. Bev loves her work as a game warden and exemplifies the best in the profession, becoming one of the first women in the state of Maine to break into the previously male ranks. Bev's mother, however, doesn't think it's a fit occupation for a female.

As the search for Valerie intensifies, Bev gets calls from her sisters reporting on their mother's declining health, but Bev ignores them and avoids dealing with her mother so that she can focus on finding the missing hiker.

Lena focuses on the missing hiker, because - unbeknownst to anyone around her, she too is a mother. She is worried that the missing woman might be her own daughter, a 42-year-old woman and an avid hiker. But Lena and her daughter have been estranged for decades, so she has no way of knowing the missing woman is her girl.

Vicarious Hiking through reading Heartwood

If you've read some of my articles, you might know that I love nature and flowers. I live in the country, in a house overlooking woods and meadows. Deer, birds, and the occasional coyote walk through my front yard, and each day we feed the birds and delight in the orioles, grosbeaks, finches, and sparrows that talk to us. Every season, we plant pollinators and collect milkweed pods and fill a meadow with them, hoping to help the Monarch Butterflies.

But as much as I love the natural world, I cannot envision hiking the Appalachain Trail. I'm just not that woodsy. I can spend hours out in the hot sun working in the yard, but I want to come in to a hot shower and a comfortable bed, not trek for miles over hazardous trails and then raise a tent and chew on granola bars for dinner. And to do that in the pouring rain and driving winds?

No way!

So it was very cool to learn about how the trail works...how people group up and travel together for days, forming "tramilies." I didn't know that hikers on the trail take on different names, kind of like a wilderness alias. "Trail angels" exist, and the luckiest hikers - and often the most successful ones - have people who support them by meeting them at stopover towns, reprovisioning them, and catching up on the trail activities and difficulties.

I will never hike the Appalachian Trail, but I got a glimpse of what it would be like by experiencing it vicariously in the pages of Heartwood.

Other characters narrate and other situations arise...

In addition to the three women who relate the bulk of the story, other sources of information are integrated into the story. A detective repeats snippets of interviews and quotes from witnesses. Recordings of voicemails and tips from the hotline intermingle with the main narrators' thoughts.

One memorable character is Santo, a Dominican man who describes himself as fat and struggles to hike the miles each day. He and Valerie become an inseparable pair on the trail, and Santo relates a lot of information about Valerie's behavior and emotional state.

More backstories permeate the plot. Throw in the fact that during the Pandemic, people connected with strangers online whom they would never have met in person. Add to that the existence of an ultra-secret military facility that trains spies to endure torture, and you've got a psychological thriller, for sure.

Rave reviews

Heartwood has been called the best thriller of 2025 by The Boston Globe, and a Best Book of the Year So Far by The New York Times and Amazon.

It was a "Read with Jenna" pick in April of 2025.

If you're a hiker, or if you are not a hiker...

If you've got "mother" issues, or if your "mother" is your hero...

If you're interested in missing person searches...

If you've ever wondered about the careers of game wardens and forest service workers...

If you're a female breaking into a man's world...

If you love a good read...

Read Heartwood!

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