Heartwood

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of death, racism, gender discrimination, mental illness, addiction, and substance use.

Bev, the novel’s principal protagonist, is initially characterized by her role as a game warden. She notes that search and rescue is “a natural fit” for her and describes her dedication to her job (18), implying that her identity is tied almost entirely to her career. As one of the first female game wardens in Maine, she has encountered much adversity and endured years of prejudice on the job. She therefore had to work harder than male agents to prove her worth and is now a highly skilled expert in the field of search and rescue. Moreover, despite the pressures she has faced as a female warden, the job has provided Bev with a much-needed refuge from female gender norms. She is tall and large boned, does not have a husband or child, and has always felt judged because she does not resemble a “traditional” woman.

Like her fellow protagonists, Bev had a difficult childhood in which The Complexity of Mother-Daughter Bonds loomed large. Her father encouraged her passion for the outdoors, but when he died, she was left with a mother who wanted Bev to be more traditionally feminine even as she herself struggled in the maternal role, self-medicating with pills and alcohol and leaving much of the parenting to Bev.