Of Heartwood and Woundwood

Jean Zimmerman has built a decades-long career as an author of critically acclaimed fiction and nonfiction, including The Orphanmaster and The Women of the House. Since 2015 she has worked as a Certified Arborist, helping municipalities manage their tree populations and preserve urban forests. She is an honors graduate of Barnard College and earned an MFA in writing from Columbia University School of the Arts. Her work has been featured in The New York Times, USA Today, The Baltimore Sun, Good Housekeeping, and many other publications. She lives with her husband in her hometown of Hastings-on-Hudson, New York.

An Invitation Into the Realm of Heartwood and Woundwood Chapter One: Climbing Through the Green Ceiling Mother's Day elation in the crown of a chestnut oak. Chapter Two: Remaining Emerald Powering through a tree crisis and getting a devastating diagnosis. Chapter Three: The Lovely Root Moving from books made of paper to trees from which paper is made. Chapter Four: Gertrude A poet at heart overcomes insecurity to protect imperiled city trees. Chapter Five: Pin Oaks and Pit Bulls Falling in love with an urban neighborhood, its people and its forest. Chapter Six: The Sweetness of the Air Wildness unfolds itself in the form of a hawk, in secret histories. Chapter Seven: The Elephant Tree How a beech engraved with evidence of love becomes a totem tree. Chapter Eight: Unexpected Bounty The life sustaining gift of an orchard, pawpaw, apple or peach. Chapter Nine: The Lynx-like Optics of the Female Discoveries about river pigs, intrepid women and conjoined trees. Chapter Ten: Same as Everyone What it takes for a person to become a boat-rocking tree advocate. Chapter Eleven: Tree Wonder The power of connecting both through nature and in love. Chapter Twelve: Wild Nature Ephemerals in the forest, mysteries of the heart. Chapter Thirteen: The Now Trail revelations and unraveling questions of history and health. Chapter Fourteen: Here Be Forests Embracing both rapture and the end. Epilogue: Black Swan Looking toward the future. Acknowledgments Endnotes

"Jean Zimmerman's Of Heartwood and Woundwood will help you vicariously discover how trees can guide you in finding the wisdom, courage, and strength needed to face the inevitable before its time. Just as its namesake does for trees, Heartwood will help you stand straight and tall, even in the face of adversity. A lighthearted yet powerful read." --Douglas Tallamy, author of Bringing Nature Home, Nature's Best Hope, and The Nature of Oaks "Anything Jean Zimmerman writes is something I'd want to read. This timely book, in which Zimmerman looks both out and in, is an intelligent, important read that's sure to interest those who liked recent popular tree/science books like The Overstory or Finding the Mother Tree." --Katie Hafner, host and co-executive producer of the Lost Women of Science podcast "Fresh and brave, Of Heartwood and Woundwood is the read we need right now. Read it, share it, gift it, take it into your own heartwood and let this beautiful book remind you how trees--and fine storytelling--can heal what hurts." --Lynda Mapes, journalist and author of The Trees Are Speaking: Dispatches from the Salmon Forests "In Of Heartwood and Woundwood, Jean Zimmerman's stunning memoir, I wasn't just taken on her fascinating journey of becoming an arborist, or her courageous management of a devastating illness; she radically changed how I saw the everyday world. I read it straight through, then read it again. This gorgeously written book is filled with such wonder, tenderness, and love for our place among the trees. Jean Zimmerman has given readers a gift. I, for one, will never walk through a city or forest the same." --Victoria Redel, author of I Am You "Jean Zimmerman's writing is lively and engaging, and her work is right up my alley as an arborist and historian of tree lore. Her fresh take on the culture and language of arboriculture is incisive, and there's a wide-eyed sense of wonder to revel in." --Doug Still, host and producer of This Old Tree podcast; former City Forester, Providence, Rhode Island; past president of the Society of Municipal Arborists "With heart, vulnerability, and no small amount of poetry, Jean Zimmerman shares her own experience of the cycle of life, both as an urban arborist and as a powerful woman facing a crisis of health with resilience and a spirit of profound creativity. The life Zimmerman leads in Of Heartwood and Woundwood is extraordinary, but her voice is always relatable--and often inspiring." --Susan Dominus, author of The Family Dynamic: A Journey into the Mystery of Sibling Success "Jean Zimmerman has written a touching and engaging story of an unexpected career change into arboriculture and urban forestry. Weaving in her love for history and literature, as well as for trees and especially the women who take care of them, she expertly guides us through urban forests in New York and elsewhere. A devastating disease becomes a source of deepened ties and passion rather than a roadblock. A must-read for professional and nonprofessional tree lovers alike." --Cecil Konijnendijk, global urban forester; editor in chief of Arboriculture and Urban Forestry, scientific journal of the International Society of Arboriculture "This book is timely and necessary in this moment when people are more tuned into the value and importance of trees and forests than ever before. Of Heartwood and Woundwood is uniquely relevant for everyone, from tree enthusiasts to those who are seeking nature-based solutions to some of the biggest challenges we face today. Jean Zimmerman knows how to tell a compelling story!" --Dan Lambe, CEO of the Arbor Day Foundation and author of Now Is the Time for Trees: Make an Impact by Planting the Earth's Most Valuable Resource