Heartwood by Amity Gaige 4

 

"Some lost people don't have the skills but instead they have something else. I don't know what to call it. Heart. They survive because of their love of life or of the dear ones in their mind. They stay present. They keep their eyes open. Often when these people are rescued, they report feeling a sense of wonder out there. For the moments they had left. For the privilege of being alive at all."         

           -Lt. Bev Miller, from the novel

Heartwood is the Page Turners' May selection. I am not sure I would have selected it, but it was a page turner, a fast-paced thriller. I am giving it a 4 rating.

Three main characters alternate their experiences in moving the plot. Lt. Beverly Miller is the Maine State Game Warden in charge of the search for a missing woman who has disappeared from the Maine portion of the Appalachian Trail. It is a race against time to rescue her.

The missing woman is Valerie Gillis who is writing a letter to her mother which is actually like a diary. She was to meet her husband at a certain location but failed to show up. A member of the "tramily" (trail family) had to leave her and she is alone and lost and without means of communication.

Lena Kucharski is a 76-year-old woman living at Cedarfield Active Life Plan Community in Connecticut when she finds news of the missing woman and becomes fixated on the search. I found her interesting because I am close to her age and live in such a community. She writes about her scooter, the slowness of her neighbors (She wishes for a fast lane.), ladies who are into jigsaw puzzles and other things I see quite often where I live.

It was rather fascinating how the stories of all three women come together. The one thing I didn't like was the somewhat choppy writing style.

At first, I had a hard time getting into this story. I am not a true outdoor person so 'lost in the woods" is something I find hard to imagine. My husband, on the other hand, once dreamed of hiking the AT, as it is called in the book. I fondly remember reading My Side of the Mountain when I was teaching 5th grade. Lt. Miller mentions having read the novel in her youth.

I wonder what our group will have to say about Heartwood.