Heartwood

'Heartwood is a true wilderness thriller: 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' Jennifer EganValerie Gillis, a 42-year-old nurse, is hiking the Appalachian Trail, a legendarily challenging route that runs from Georgia to Maine, taking in fourteen states. She has almost reached the end when she vanishes. Beverly Miller, the first female game warden ever hired in the state of Maine, has a near-perfect record of finding lost people. She is leading a search and rescue mission through the impenetrable woods. Meanwhile, Lena follows the case online from her retirement home, believing she might hold the key to the case. Heartwood is a love letter to mothers, daughters, nurses, first responders, loners, and lovers of nature, and to anyone who's been lost along the way.