{"product_id":"heartwood-9781668063606","title":"Heartwood (a Read with Jenna Pick)","description":"\u003cb\u003e\"The best thriller of 2025.\" --\u003ci\u003eThe Boston Globe\u003c\/i\u003e * \"Genius.\" --\u003ci\u003eThe Washington Post\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003e\"A literary thriller of the highest order\" (Elin Hilderbrand, \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e bestselling author of \u003ci\u003eThe Perfect Couple\u003c\/i\u003e), \u003ci\u003eHeartwood\u003c\/i\u003e takes you on a gripping journey as a search and rescue team race against time after a woman mysteriously disappears on the Appalachian Trail.\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIn 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. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eAt the heart of the investigation is Beverly, the determined Maine State Game Warden tasked with finding Valerie, who leads the search on the ground. Meanwhile, Lena, a seventy-six-year-old birdwatcher in a Connecticut 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. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ci\u003eHeartwood \u003c\/i\u003eis a \"gem of a thousand facets--suspenseful, transporting, tender, and ultimately soul-mending,\" (Megan Majumdar, \u003ci\u003eNew York Times \u003c\/i\u003ebestselling author of \u003ci\u003eA Burning\u003c\/i\u003e) that tells the story of a lost hiker's odyssey and is a moving rendering of each character's interior journey. The mystery inspires larger questions about the many ways in which we get lost, and how we are found. At its core, \u003ci\u003eHeartwood \u003c\/i\u003eis an \"unputdownable\" (\u003ci\u003eReal Simple\u003c\/i\u003e) and redemptive novel, written with both enormous literary ambition and love.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eHeartwood\u003c\/i\u003e is Amity Gaige's fifth novel. It was selected by Jenna Bush Hager as a Read with Jenna pick for April 2025 and became an instant national bestseller. Amity is the author of four previous novels, \u003ci\u003eO My Darling\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eThe Folded World\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eSchroder\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003e \u003c\/i\u003eand\u003ci\u003e Sea Wife\u003c\/i\u003e. \u003ci\u003eSea Wife\u003c\/i\u003e was a 2020 \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e Notable Book and a finalist for the Mark Twain American Voice Award. \u003ci\u003eSchroder\u003c\/i\u003e was also a \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e Notable Book and a best book of 2013 according to \u003ci\u003eThe\u003c\/i\u003e \u003ci\u003eWashington Post\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eThe Wall Street Journal\u003c\/i\u003e, among others, and was shortlisted for UK's Folio Prize in 2014. In 2018, Amity was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in Fiction. She lives in West Hartford, Connecticut, with her family and teaches creative writing at Yale.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Simon \u0026 Schuster","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51187425050898,"sku":"9781668063606","price":20.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_acd47d69-68ef-466a-b6a9-b7dad8e62bc8.jpg?v=1768914959","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/heartwood-9781668063606","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}