Heartwood by Amity Gaige

Heartwood by Amity Gaige was one of Catherine's favorite picks of the year so far on a Sarah's Bookshelves episode. I can't remember what she said that made me pull over on a dog walk to order it from the library, but I have a vivid memory of exactly where I was when I did that.

A woman hiking on the Appalachian Trail goes missing and Beverly, a Maine game warden, must organize the search for her.  We follow Valerie, the missing hiker, Bev, and a woman in a retirement home who is also interested in the case. 

While we follow the investigation, we learn a lot about Valerie, Bev, and Lena alike. We learn how they came to be the way they are and what makes them work. They each have their troubles and pasts and I liked how Gaige wove a tapestry of characterization around each of them. However, this is not universally agreed upon. Consider these back to back Goodreads reviews:

It's as if those two reviewers read two separate books! (I liked the Lena parts, personally.)

I also found the mystery of this propulsive. Would Bev find Valerie? Was it the husband? Why are those military guys acting so shady? I liked it, friends. 4.5/5 stars

Lines of note:

And the moon. Who finds the moon comforting? A big rock with a dead man's face on it? The moon is a bystander who never intervenes. How many people have been silenced or violated underneath its helpful incandescence? (page 134-135)

My husband and I fight about this all the time. The sun is life affirming and life giving. The moon is stealing the sun's glory, as far as I'm concerned. 

The real mother, the mother that you get, you've got to love her, there's no choice. She is the mother you needed. She gave you strength, either because she loved you well or because she loved you poorly. She gave you your mission.

It's the dream mother that you have to let go of. The one you pined for, the one you thought your decency promised you. She's the one you've got to bury.

She's a mirage. She'll only break your heart. (page 273)

Um. Huh. There was a part of this book dealing with a mother on her deathbed. I found it simultaneously hard to read and somehow comforting. 

Things I looked up:

Katahdin (page 67) - the highest mountain in the U.S. state of Maine

strigiform (page 150) - owl-like

Title appearing in the book:

Sometimes, in your lap, I would press my hand against your chest so that I could feel the center of you - your heartwood, your innermost substance, like the core of a tree that keeps it standing. (page 1)

Freya, Atis, and Tim, you are my heartwood. (page 309, in the Acknowledgements)

Hat mentions (why hats?):

He's a plainspoken, unexcitable Mainer, husky in build, large in hat size. (page 16)

He must mean a hat or a helmet. (page 109)

No hat, empty hands. (page 226)

She grabs a floppy hat but brings nothing else with her. (page 233)

...does not try to hide under her hat. (page 235)

At last, she takes off the hat and fans herself with it. (page 236)

She puts her hat back on. (page 236)