دانلود کتاب Heartwood 2025

A former ICU nurse named Valerie Gillis, emotionally depleted after enduring the COVID‑19 pandemic and a crumbling marriage, embarks on a five‑month hike along the Appalachian Trail seeking healing. Near the end of the journey in the rugged Maine wilderness, she disappears without a beacon or compass, setting off a tense multi‑day rescue mission led by Bev Miller, Maine’s first female game warden. As the search unfolds, the narrative shifts among Valerie’s poetic journal entries, Bev’s logistical and emotional struggles, and an unlikely third perspective: a reclusive, wheelchair‑bound retiree named Lena, who becomes obsessed with the case after connecting with an online foraging friend.

At its core, this novel is both a gripping wilderness thriller and a deeply introspective exploration of grief, resilience, and maternal bonds. Valerie’s entries reveal her fight for survival—starvation, fear, lost orientation—while Bev’s viewpoint exposes the pressure of leading a high‑stakes rescue under media scrutiny and fading hope. Lena’s odd, outside‑involvement adds an eerie but poignant commentary on public fascination with missing‑person cases and the toll of isolation. Through shifting perspectives and mixed media, Heartwood reflects on recovery in a world still healing from collective trauma¹.