'An unforgettable treat' JANICE HALLETT

'Beautifully written . . . moving and suspenseful' TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT

'Gripping . . . each strand adds tension and drama' GOOD HOUSEKEEPING

'One of my favourite recent reads' BARBARA KINGSOLVER, GUARDIAN

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 centre of the investigation is Beverly, the determined Maine State Game Warden tasked with finding Valerie. While Beverly is searching, Lena, a seventy-six-year-old birdwatcher in a 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.

'Fast-paced and full of grace . . . a memorable meditation on the forms of care' SARAH MOSS

'A powerful story of being lost in the wilderness' SAINSBURY'S MAGAZINE

'An absolute must-read' ELIN HILDEBRAND

"One of my favourite recent reads is Heartwood . . . Through its unique structure and beautiful writing, it pulls off the impossible trick of being both meditative and suspenseful" - Guardian

"Both a gripping story and a flawlessly integrated feat of research . . . beautifully written . . . moving and suspenseful" - The Times Literary Supplement

"Gripping . . . uses its isolated setting to great effect . . . each strand adds tension and drama" - Good Housekeeping

"Gaige is at her considerable best when exploring the impact of Valerie's disappearance on others and the range of emotions it prompts among those who are metaphorically, rather than literally, lost" - the Guardian

"This is impossible to put down . . . tense and dramatic" - Best Magazine

"A powerful story of being lost in the wilderness" - Sainsbury's Magazine

"A terrifically moving and tense thriller . . . genius" - The Washington Post

"[T]he best thriller of 2025 . . . a knock-out of a book" - The Boston Globe

"A novelistic cousin to Strayed's best-selling 2012 memoir of tackling the Pacific Crest Trail after her mother's death, it's the story of three woodsy women each lost in her own wilderness, and the gnarled roots between mothers and daughters . . . Heartwood absorbs the reader" - New York Times Book Review

"Gaige's ability to introduce suspense and build it continuously, page after page, is astonishing . . . [a] complex, thrilling work" - Minneapolis Star Tribune

"Unputdownable" - Real Simple

"A crackling adventure story, a meditation on the fraught human connection to nature, and a subtle examination of the rocky relationships between mothers and daughters that shape the lives of its women characters, the novel tightens its grip as it moves toward uncovering its central mysteries" - Booklist (starred review)

"A winning portrait of a woman, and community, in peril" - Kirkus Reviews

"Multifaceted characters and poetic prose enhance Gaige's tender meditations on aging and mother-daughter relationships" - Publishers Weekly