Chapter 7: Lena — Summary and Analysis

⚠️ Spoiler Warning: This guide contains detailed spoilers for the entire novel. Proceed only if you've finished reading or are comfortable knowing the plot.

Summary

On a Friday afternoon, Lena sits at her computer and watches a photograph load on a Portland newspaper’s website. The image shows Valerie Gillis, a 42-year-old hiker from Northampton, Massachusetts, who has disappeared from the Appalachian Trail. Valerie’s face is weathered and makeup-free, her thumbs hooked through her backpack straps, a hot pink bandana tied at her neck. Lena reaches out to touch the screen, feeling an unexpected intimacy with this stranger.

Lena staggers to the bathroom without her power chair, but nothing comes up. She returns to the desktop and reads the article. Valerie was completing a “flip-flop” hike—starting in the middle of the trail, reaching the northern terminus at Mount Katahdin, then finishing the southern half. She was only about 200 miles from Katahdin when she vanished. Valerie, known by the trail name “Sparrow,” was last seen on Monday, July 25, leaving the Poplar Ridge shelter. She planned to hike eight miles to the Spaulding Mountain shelter but never arrived. She was reported missing after failing to meet her husband, Gregory Bouras, on July 27 where the trail crosses Route 27.

Lena begins her own investigation. She examines Valerie’s last known location on Google Earth and discovers a forum for Appalachian Trail hikers called 2000milers.net. The forum has erupted with discussion about Sparrow. Members post prayers, speculation, and advice. Some suggest she likely hunkered down and stayed put. Others argue that getting lost on the AT is nearly impossible and that only stupidity would cause such a disappearance. A few posters push back, reminding the group that Sparrow’s family might be reading and urging respect. One member, Cherrypie, hikes to the Birch Run shelter and finds an entry Valerie wrote in the shelter log. She uploads a photo of it.

Lena clicks on the attachment and reads Valerie’s handwritten words. Valerie writes that she finally slept in her first AT shelter, having previously stayed at campgrounds and motels with her husband, whom she calls “Treasure Gregory.” She confesses she is afraid of the dark, takes pills, and calls herself a “cream puff.” She jokes about a fellow hiker named Santo who is afraid of spiders. She ends with a cheerful note about having fun and knowing how. Lena reads the entry repeatedly, shuddering at the line about fearing the dark. She notes how quickly Valerie makes light of her fears, and she admires Valerie’s strength—despite her anxieties, Valerie has walked over a thousand miles.

Lena then turns her attention to the husband. The word “husband” feels slippery to her, and she recalls her own two marriages. Her second husband was terminally ill when they married, and they joked that the secret to a successful marriage was keeping it short. Lena’s landline rings, but she does not answer. She searches for information about Gregory Bouras and eventually finds a December 2021 photo caption in the Daily Hampshire Gazette. The photo shows him in profile among a group of socially distant celebrants, looking up into the darkness as holiday lights are switched on. He wears a placid, somewhat vacant expression and a fluffy scarf. The image only deepens Lena’s curiosity.

At the end of the day, Lena gets into bed, realizing she has forgotten to eat. She crabwalks to the refrigerator using chairbacks and countertops, then stands in the light of the open fridge. She reflects on her reading habits—she has always been indiscriminate, devouring Stendhal as a child but also pulp sci-fi and the Tippy Parrish series. She has read dozens of long-distance hiking memoirs, some self-published and full of punctuation errors. In her ambulatory life, she loved to hike and carried her daughter Christine up summits in a carrier. She thinks about the Appalachian Trail and the temptation to test one’s limits, but it is too late for her now. She drinks orange juice from a blood drive. She imagines a friend up in Maine searching the brush for signs of Valerie and prays for his success.

Lena reflects on the world’s many tragedies—wars, brutality, displacement, pandemic, starvation—and notes that hundreds of people go missing every day. Yet she cares about Valerie precisely because of this. In her Catholic girlhood, she learned to value the symbolic individual; the bigger story is too big, and the crowd is too crowded. She whispers, “Save her. Find her.”

Key Events

Lena views a newspaper photograph of missing hiker Valerie Gillis and feels a deep, personal connection.
She reads the article detailing Valerie’s disappearance from the Appalachian Trail, including her trail name “Sparrow” and her flip-flop hike.
Lena researches Valerie’s last location on Google Earth and discovers the hiker forum 2000milers.net, where members debate the case.
A forum member shares a photo of Valerie’s shelter log entry, which reveals her fear of the dark and her affectionate nickname for her husband.
Lena searches for information about Gregory Bouras and finds a 2021 photo caption, which leaves her intrigued.
Lena reflects on her own past hiking, her marriages, and her indiscriminate reading habits.
She imagines a friend searching for Valerie in Maine and ends the chapter by whispering a plea for Valerie’s rescue.

Character Development

This chapter deepens Lena’s character through her obsessive engagement with a stranger’s disappearance. Her physical vulnerability is evident—she staggers without her power chair, forgets to eat, and crabwalks to the fridge—yet her mental energy is intense. She is a reader and a researcher, applying the same voracious, uncritical appetite she has for books to the mystery of Valerie’s fate. Her empathy is striking: she touches the pixelated face on the screen and feels a wrenching intimacy, even though Valerie is not her daughter.

Lena’s reflections on marriage reveal a personal history marked by loss. Her second husband was terminally ill, and their joke about keeping a marriage short hints at a pragmatic, even dark, view of love. The word “husband” feels slippery to her, suggesting wariness. Her Catholic upbringing surfaces in her belief in the symbolic individual—a way of making sense of overwhelming global suffering by focusing on one person. This chapter also shows Lena’s physical decline and her awareness that she can no longer hike, yet her imagination remains active, projecting herself into Valerie’s story and into the search effort.

Themes, Symbols, or Motifs

Disappearance and Obsession: Lena’s fixation on Valerie’s case mirrors the way a compelling narrative can consume a reader. She spends an entire day researching, forgetting to eat, and neglecting the phone.
Fear of the Dark and Courage: Valerie’s shelter log reveals her fear of the dark, yet she has walked over a thousand miles. This juxtaposition of fear and perseverance becomes a central motif, highlighting courage that exists alongside anxiety.
Empathy for Strangers: Lena’s emotional response to Valerie’s photograph and her whispered plea demonstrate a profound, almost inexplicable connection to someone she has never met.
Victim Blaming and Online Community Culture: The forum discussion includes harsh judgments about hikers who get lost, with some members calling it stupidity. Other posters push back, urging respect. This illustrates the divisive and sometimes cruel nature of online communities, even in moments of crisis.
The Symbolic Individual: Lena explicitly reflects on her Catholic upbringing and the idea that focusing on one person is a way to cope with the enormity of global suffering. Valerie becomes that symbolic individual for Lena.
Physical Limitation and Mortality: Lena’s inability to hike, her reliance on a power chair, and her forgotten meals underscore her declining health. Her reflection that it is “too late” for her to attempt the trail reinforces themes of mortality and lost opportunity.

Why This Chapter Matters

Chapter 7 shifts the novel’s focus from Lena’s domestic life to an external mystery that captures her imagination. It introduces Valerie Gillis as a fully realized character through her own words, even though she never appears in person. The chapter deepens Lena’s interiority, showing how her reading habits, her past, and her physical limitations shape her response to tragedy. It also establishes a key thematic tension: the desire to find meaning in one person’s story amid overwhelming global chaos. Lena’s obsessive research and her final plea set up a narrative thread that will likely continue, making this chapter pivotal for both character development and plot momentum.

Study Questions and Answers

1. Why does Lena feel such a strong connection to Valerie, a woman she has never met?

Lena’s connection stems from her empathy and her belief in the symbolic individual. She reflects that the world is full of overwhelming tragedies, but focusing on one person makes the suffering comprehensible. Her Catholic upbringing taught her to value the individual, and her own physical limitations—she can no longer hike—make Valerie’s journey and disappearance resonate personally. Additionally, Lena is a voracious reader who becomes absorbed in stories, and Valerie’s case becomes a narrative she cannot put down.

2. How does the forum discussion reveal different attitudes toward the missing hiker?

The forum shows a range of responses. Some members express heartfelt prayers and hope for rescue. Others offer practical advice about staying put and using markers if lost. A few posters are dismissive, suggesting that getting lost on the AT is nearly impossible and blaming the hiker for stupidity. This victim-blaming is challenged by another member who reminds the group that Sparrow’s family may be reading and urges respectful speech. The exchange illustrates how online communities can both support and judge, and how anonymity can lead to callousness.

3. What does Lena’s reaction to Valerie’s shelter log reveal about her own character?

Lena reads the log repeatedly and shudders at the line about fearing the dark. She admires Valerie’s playfulness and strength, noting that despite her fears, Valerie walked over a thousand miles. This admiration reflects Lena’s own values—she respects courage in the face of fear. Her reaction also shows her tendency to project herself into others’ stories, imagining Valerie’s voice as if she were standing beside her. The log humanizes Valerie for Lena, deepening her obsession and her emotional investment in the case.