Status
Available
Call number
Call number
FIC PET c.2
Collection
Description
Fiction. Literature. A four-year-old Mi'kmaq girl goes missing from the blueberry fields of Maine, sparking a tragic mystery that haunts the survivors, unravels a family, and remains unsolved for nearly fifty years July 1962. Following in the tradition of Indigenous workers from Nova Scotia, a Mi'kmaq family arrives in Maine to pick blueberries for the summer. Weeks later, four-year-old Ruthie, the family's youngest child, vanishes. She is last seen by her six-year-old brother, Joe, sitting on a favorite rock at the edge of a berry field. Joe will remain distraught by his sister's disappearance for years to come. In Maine, a young girl named Norma grows up as the only child of an affluent family. Her father is emotionally distant, her mother frustratingly overprotective. Norma is often troubled by recurring dreams and visions that seem more like memories than imagination. As she grows older, Norma slowly comes to realize there is something her parents aren't telling her. Unwilling to abandon her intuition, she will spend decades trying to uncover this family secret. For readers of The Vanishing Half and Woman of Light, this showstopping debut by a vibrant new voice in fiction is a riveting novel about the search for truth, the shadow of trauma, and the persistence of love across time.… (more)
Publication
Harper Perennial (2023), 320 pages
Original publication date
2023
Original language
English
Language
User reviews
LibraryThing member japaul22
Every summer a Mi'kmaq family travels from Nova Scotia to Maine to pick blueberries and make some seasonal money. One summer, the youngest girl in this family, Ruthie, goes missing. The family looks for her everywhere, but she is not found. They return to Nova Scotia broken. The novel is told in
I really enjoyed this. It could have gone wrong a lot of ways - by being overly emotional or overly lecturing - but instead Peters simply tells a great story. She creates great characters who are fully fleshed out and creates a satisfying plot. Recommended.
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alternating chapters between Joe, who was the next youngest child in the family and the last to see Ruthie, and Norma. It is quickly apparent to the reader that Norma is Ruthie and was likely kidnapped by this white family. The reader follows Norma and Joe's lives, wondering whether they will ever be reunited. I really enjoyed this. It could have gone wrong a lot of ways - by being overly emotional or overly lecturing - but instead Peters simply tells a great story. She creates great characters who are fully fleshed out and creates a satisfying plot. Recommended.
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LibraryThing member srms.reads
4.5⭐
In the early 1960s, four-year-old Ruthie, the youngest daughter of a Mi’kmaq family from Nova Scotia, disappeared from a blueberry field in Maine where her family was employed for the summer. With almost no help from the authorities on account of their “transient” status, Ruthie’s
“It’s funny what you remember when something goes wrong. Something that would never stick in your memory on an ordinary day gets stuck there permanent.”
Norma has vague memories of her life before she was five years old. Growing up in Maine, the only child of a judge who is a tad distant and an overprotective mother, she is an inquisitive and perceptive child. Her vivid dreams, hushed conversations between her family members and her mother’s nervous reaction to her questions about their family do not escape her attention. She senses that there is much about her life that does not feel right – a belief that follows her into adulthood. Years later, after both her parents have passed on, her aunt shares the truth about their family – a revelation that will leave fifty-four-year-old Norma with more questions than answers.
“Fate is a trickster. He likes to set up all the clues just to see if you can put them together and make sense out of things you never thought to make sense of in the first place.”
The Berry Pickers by Amanda Peters is an incredibly moving story that revolves around themes of family, identity, loss, hope and grief. Spanning fifty years, the narrative is shared from dual perspectives in alternating chapters. Despite the non-linear transitions between past and present timelines, the narrative flows well and is not difficult to follow. Please note that there is no mystery here, and it is the journey of these characters that takes center stage in this novel.
The structure of the narrative allows us to explore the contrast between the trajectories of Norma’s and Joe’s lives and how one traumatic event impacts their individual worldviews. The author’s strength lies in her character development and depiction of complex human emotions. Losing Ruthie casts a shadow on Joe’s life and his being the last one to see her before she disappears haunts him throughout his adult life, and though there are aspects about adult Joe that might not arouse sympathy there's no doubt that he is a broken man and the author compels us to take a deeper look into his heart despite his flaws. Norma’s life is one of searching for a sense of belongingness despite growing up in the security of an affluent family who cares for her deeply. Given her trajectory, Norma’s reactions were commensurate with her character, though at times, especially toward the end, I thought Norma’s perspective could have been explored in more depth. However, this does not detract from the overall impact of the novel. The author approaches sensitive topics such as grief, the loss of a child, alcoholism, discrimination, and terminal illness, among others, with much sensitivity and compassion. Overall, I found this novel to be a thought-provoking, compelling read that I would not hesitate to recommend to those who enjoy emotionally charged family sagas.
I look forward to reading more from this talented debut author in the future.
“Even people who exude light and happiness have dark secrets. Sometimes, the lie becomes so entrenched it becomes the truth, hidden away in the deep recesses of the mind until death erases it, leaving the world a little different.”
I listened to the audiobook narrated by Aaliya Warbus and Jordan Waunch, who have done a wonderful job of breathing life into these characters and setting the tone for this beautifully written story.
Many thanks to RB Media and NetGalley for ALC of this novel. All opinions expressed in this review are my own. The Berry Pickers was published in the United States on October 31, 2023.
In the early 1960s, four-year-old Ruthie, the youngest daughter of a Mi’kmaq family from Nova Scotia, disappeared from a blueberry field in Maine where her family was employed for the summer. With almost no help from the authorities on account of their “transient” status, Ruthie’s
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family and their coworkers desperately search for her but to no avail. Ruthie’s brother Joe, six years old at the time, was the last to see her and her disappearance would haunt him for years to come. Devastated and heartbroken, Ruthie’s family struggles to hold on to hope that she is alive and will return to them someday.“It’s funny what you remember when something goes wrong. Something that would never stick in your memory on an ordinary day gets stuck there permanent.”
Norma has vague memories of her life before she was five years old. Growing up in Maine, the only child of a judge who is a tad distant and an overprotective mother, she is an inquisitive and perceptive child. Her vivid dreams, hushed conversations between her family members and her mother’s nervous reaction to her questions about their family do not escape her attention. She senses that there is much about her life that does not feel right – a belief that follows her into adulthood. Years later, after both her parents have passed on, her aunt shares the truth about their family – a revelation that will leave fifty-four-year-old Norma with more questions than answers.
“Fate is a trickster. He likes to set up all the clues just to see if you can put them together and make sense out of things you never thought to make sense of in the first place.”
The Berry Pickers by Amanda Peters is an incredibly moving story that revolves around themes of family, identity, loss, hope and grief. Spanning fifty years, the narrative is shared from dual perspectives in alternating chapters. Despite the non-linear transitions between past and present timelines, the narrative flows well and is not difficult to follow. Please note that there is no mystery here, and it is the journey of these characters that takes center stage in this novel.
The structure of the narrative allows us to explore the contrast between the trajectories of Norma’s and Joe’s lives and how one traumatic event impacts their individual worldviews. The author’s strength lies in her character development and depiction of complex human emotions. Losing Ruthie casts a shadow on Joe’s life and his being the last one to see her before she disappears haunts him throughout his adult life, and though there are aspects about adult Joe that might not arouse sympathy there's no doubt that he is a broken man and the author compels us to take a deeper look into his heart despite his flaws. Norma’s life is one of searching for a sense of belongingness despite growing up in the security of an affluent family who cares for her deeply. Given her trajectory, Norma’s reactions were commensurate with her character, though at times, especially toward the end, I thought Norma’s perspective could have been explored in more depth. However, this does not detract from the overall impact of the novel. The author approaches sensitive topics such as grief, the loss of a child, alcoholism, discrimination, and terminal illness, among others, with much sensitivity and compassion. Overall, I found this novel to be a thought-provoking, compelling read that I would not hesitate to recommend to those who enjoy emotionally charged family sagas.
I look forward to reading more from this talented debut author in the future.
“Even people who exude light and happiness have dark secrets. Sometimes, the lie becomes so entrenched it becomes the truth, hidden away in the deep recesses of the mind until death erases it, leaving the world a little different.”
I listened to the audiobook narrated by Aaliya Warbus and Jordan Waunch, who have done a wonderful job of breathing life into these characters and setting the tone for this beautifully written story.
Many thanks to RB Media and NetGalley for ALC of this novel. All opinions expressed in this review are my own. The Berry Pickers was published in the United States on October 31, 2023.
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LibraryThing member Dianekeenoy
This was a beautiful book to listen to. A story of loss and love, it's told from the point of view of Joe and his sister Ruthie who disappeared when she was four years old. Incredibly moving, I listened to this book through the night. Highly recommended.
LibraryThing member rmarcin
Told in 2 voices, Joe and Norma recount their lives growing up and reflect on how an event when they were children changed their lives. Now in their 50s, they both grew up with this event overshadowing their lives.
Joe and his sister, Ruthie, were resting after berry picking with their family on a
Heartbreaking story.
Joe and his sister, Ruthie, were resting after berry picking with their family on a
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farm in Maine. 4-year old Ruthie goes missing. Joe searches but can't find her, this affects him for the rest of his life. Norma grows up with a mother who had lost many babies to miscarriage. Her Aunt June and friend Alice, try to help Norma reconcile her mother's illness with Norma's life choices. Norma finds out the secret that she is Ruthie late in life. Heartbreaking story.
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LibraryThing member Dreesie
A perfectly decent book, I enjoyed the audiobook with great narrators. The organization of the story worked fine on audio. This story touches on several aspects of native life in the Maine/Nova Scotia area: residential schools, migrant labor, traditional foods/language that are being lost, lack of
(Possibly spoilers below)
I would have liked more of Norma/Ruthie's thoughts after she learns the truth (and the author's thoughts). Which character is the worst/most guilty? Mother, father, or Aunt June? The desperate or the complicit? Does desperate even matter--many women (and men) were/are similarly desperate and do not resort to kidnapping. Though based on some of the memoirs I have read this year and at least one documentary I have watched, some international adoptees consider themselves kidnapped/bought and have varied thoughts on guilt.
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police respect and care, violence. It also deals with dishonesty, the worst kind of theft their is, and a total lack of empathy or kindness (one could argue that mental illness plays in, but it is not discussed and is also not an excuse). This novel is very YA-friendly (teen particularly, as they can process the ramifications of the story).(Possibly spoilers below)
I would have liked more of Norma/Ruthie's thoughts after she learns the truth (and the author's thoughts). Which character is the worst/most guilty? Mother, father, or Aunt June? The desperate or the complicit? Does desperate even matter--many women (and men) were/are similarly desperate and do not resort to kidnapping. Though based on some of the memoirs I have read this year and at least one documentary I have watched, some international adoptees consider themselves kidnapped/bought and have varied thoughts on guilt.
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LibraryThing member tjsjohanna
Wow, this was a hard story - very hard to have sympathy for Norma's parents given the circumstances under which she became their daughter. I loved the reconciliation at the end but also mourned all the things Norma lost over the course of her life because of the selfish actions of a grieving woman
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and her family who chose the easy over the right. Show Less
LibraryThing member Hccpsk
The Berry Pickers by Amanda Peters uses a back-and-forth narrative to tell the story of Joe and Ruthie, indigenous siblings from Nova Scotia separated one summer when Ruthie disappears from a berry field in Maine. Covering 50 years in 300 pages, Peters skillfully focuses on certain moments in both
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lives to convey deep trauma and emotion while giving a broad sense of both families. The Berry Pickers is a sad book that explores a lot of themes including grief, race, loneliness, and belonging. Show Less
LibraryThing member tangledthread
The premise of this story was really promising. However I found the characters to be flat and the writing uninspired. At times I wondered if this book would be better classified at YA, or if the author is herself a bit young and inexperienced for the topic.
LibraryThing member Kristelh
Reason Read - WCBC
This is a debut novel written by a mixed-race woman of Mi'kmaq and European ancestry, born and raised in the Annapolis Valley, Nova Scotia. It is set in Maine and Nova Scotia and is the tale of a Mi'kmaq family who comes to Maine to pick berries and one year their four year old
This is a debut novel written by a mixed-race woman of Mi'kmaq and European ancestry, born and raised in the Annapolis Valley, Nova Scotia. It is set in Maine and Nova Scotia and is the tale of a Mi'kmaq family who comes to Maine to pick berries and one year their four year old
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daughter goes missing. It is told from the point of view of one son and from the daughter who is missing. There is much to appreciate in the book; Indigenous peoples, Canadian, the setting, but it felt at times that it did not flow well. The book explores memories, trauma, and forgiveness. Show Less
LibraryThing member EllenH
This debut author tells a story like she lived it. Although I relly liked it, sometimes the flow between storytellers and time stumbled.
LibraryThing member novelcommentary
The Berry Pickers
Amanda Peters debut novel takes place in her home area of Nova Scotia where she was raised a a member of the Glooscap First Nation. She sets up this story in dueling chapters written by the two main characters reminiscing about their life. We find out early on that in 1962, the
I enjoyed learning a bit about the Mi'kmaq people and their migratory life of labor and wish their lives were explained a bit more. The plot was interesting enough to propel my reading but the prologue kind of takes the mystery out.
Lines:
When we arrived from Nova Scotia, midsummer, a caravan of dark-skinned workers, laughing and singing, travelling through their overgrown and rusting world, the local folks turned their backs, our presence a testament to their failure to prosper.
The dreams were a mystery to me until Mother’s mind started to fail her, and those things stored in the deep dark of her conscience leapt out and started to flail about like fish on the lakeshore.
I’m fifty-six years old and I stay alive because my eighty-seven-year-old mother tells me she can’t watch another child die.
I lived my entire childhood in the shadow of infant ghosts. Their memory haunted my mother, and she carried them around with her, constantly tripping over their absence and blaming me for the fall.
my dreams had faded, like a watercolour left in the sunlight.
When I woke, my mouth dry and my head ringing with the bells of Chianti,
A smarter man would have seen that I was ruining the best thing in my life. But I can state, with full confidence, that I am not that clever.
Those cracks that I had been hammering into my life and into my marriage had become an earthquake of my own making, one too destructive for me to repair.
Desire in the dying is a cruel trick.
Amanda Peters debut novel takes place in her home area of Nova Scotia where she was raised a a member of the Glooscap First Nation. She sets up this story in dueling chapters written by the two main characters reminiscing about their life. We find out early on that in 1962, the
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Mi'kmaq family who go to Maine to pick blueberries suffer the loss of their youngest daughter Ruthie. The four year old suddenly disappears. After getting no help from the local police, the indigenous people in the area continue searching but no body is found. Since no body is found, her mother never stops believing she is still alive. Joe, her brother, feels responsible for losing her. A chapter later we are introduced to Norma, who has recurring dreams of another family and lives a strange sheltered life of never leaving home. It is not a spoiler to reveal that she has been kidnapped by a loving but unstable woman who has suffered too many miscarriages and feels like this child would be better with her. So the plot progresses as the two children relate the story of their lives for the next five decades. They are not good lives. Joe's character is deeply flawed as his anger and drinking condemn him to a lonely existence, where he feels everyone would be better without him. Norma grows up sheltered and can't quite escape the ghosts of her past even when a good man marries her. I enjoyed learning a bit about the Mi'kmaq people and their migratory life of labor and wish their lives were explained a bit more. The plot was interesting enough to propel my reading but the prologue kind of takes the mystery out.
Lines:
When we arrived from Nova Scotia, midsummer, a caravan of dark-skinned workers, laughing and singing, travelling through their overgrown and rusting world, the local folks turned their backs, our presence a testament to their failure to prosper.
The dreams were a mystery to me until Mother’s mind started to fail her, and those things stored in the deep dark of her conscience leapt out and started to flail about like fish on the lakeshore.
I’m fifty-six years old and I stay alive because my eighty-seven-year-old mother tells me she can’t watch another child die.
I lived my entire childhood in the shadow of infant ghosts. Their memory haunted my mother, and she carried them around with her, constantly tripping over their absence and blaming me for the fall.
my dreams had faded, like a watercolour left in the sunlight.
When I woke, my mouth dry and my head ringing with the bells of Chianti,
A smarter man would have seen that I was ruining the best thing in my life. But I can state, with full confidence, that I am not that clever.
Those cracks that I had been hammering into my life and into my marriage had become an earthquake of my own making, one too destructive for me to repair.
Desire in the dying is a cruel trick.
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LibraryThing member bookchickdi
Ruthie was sitting on a rock eating a sandwich with her older brother and then she was gone. Her family- mother, father, three older brothers and one older sister- was distraught and searched for her for weeks with no success.
The family returns to their home on Nova Scotia but they are never the
The family’s story is interspersed with the story of Norma, the only daughter of a couple who struggled for years trying to have a baby before Norma came along. Norma’s mother refuses to let Norma out of her sight except for school, and Norma comes to feel stifled by her lonely life.
The Berry Pickers is a beautifully written debut novel, with characters the reader cares deeply about. We feel their pain and sadness and although you know where the story is going, it is the journey that keeps you reading this wonderful book. I give it my highest recommendation. Fans of Jacqueline Mitchard’s The Deep End of the Ocean will like this one.
The family returns to their home on Nova Scotia but they are never the
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same. Her mother insists that Ruthie is alive somewhere. Her brother Joe, the last one to see her before she disappeared, spirals out of control feeling guilty that he left her alone.The family’s story is interspersed with the story of Norma, the only daughter of a couple who struggled for years trying to have a baby before Norma came along. Norma’s mother refuses to let Norma out of her sight except for school, and Norma comes to feel stifled by her lonely life.
The Berry Pickers is a beautifully written debut novel, with characters the reader cares deeply about. We feel their pain and sadness and although you know where the story is going, it is the journey that keeps you reading this wonderful book. I give it my highest recommendation. Fans of Jacqueline Mitchard’s The Deep End of the Ocean will like this one.
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LibraryThing member ibkennedy
One of the most delightful books I've read in a long time. Sad, tragic but always real....uplifting, discouraging all beautifully written.
I'm waiting for the next Amanda.
I'm waiting for the next Amanda.
LibraryThing member Cariola
In the summer of 1962, a Native American family travels from Nova Scotia to Maine to harvest blueberries. A few weeks later, Ruthie, the 4-year old daughter, disappears. She was left in the care of her 6-year old brother who last saw her sitting on a rock. Despite intensive searching, no sign of
This family's story alternates with that of another family, a local doctor, his wife, and their daughter Norma. Although the father is a doctor in high standing in the community, they aren't much happier. The mother is high strung, domineering and overprotective. Norma is rarely allowed out of the house except with family members. People often comment on Norma's complexion, which is darker than her parents', and she wonders why there are no baby pictures of herself in the family scrapbook. The family has a reason for everything: her complexion is due to some far-back Italian ancestors, and they were just too busy taking care of her (plus her mother's health was frail) to remember to take photos. The reader doesn't have to work very hard to figure out that Norma is really Ruthie, snatched by a woman who had suffered several miscarriages and whose mental health was in decline.
The rest of the novel plays out how the the truth behind Ruthie's disappearance and identity slowly comes to light. I actually enjoyed this book a lot more than the above description might suggest. The characters are well drawn and interesting, and the author writes beautifully about loss, grief, a sense of identity, and prejudice. There are a number of events that reveal how the loss of Ruthie has affected every member of the family, and Norma's family also suffers from the secret they must hide.
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her could be found. Her disappearance haunts the family members for years, especially Joe, who is convinced that she is still alive somewhere, and older brother Ben, who, about 16 years later, believes that he saw her at a protest but could not get her attention. Ruthie's red boots sit on a closet shelf as a reminder of what was lost. The family faces hardship and tragedy due to their low status and ethnicity. As the story progresses, Joe is dying of cancer and tells most of the family's history in flashbacks. He is trying to make amends for the wrongs in he has committed and is still hopeful that Ruthie will be found before he dies.This family's story alternates with that of another family, a local doctor, his wife, and their daughter Norma. Although the father is a doctor in high standing in the community, they aren't much happier. The mother is high strung, domineering and overprotective. Norma is rarely allowed out of the house except with family members. People often comment on Norma's complexion, which is darker than her parents', and she wonders why there are no baby pictures of herself in the family scrapbook. The family has a reason for everything: her complexion is due to some far-back Italian ancestors, and they were just too busy taking care of her (plus her mother's health was frail) to remember to take photos. The reader doesn't have to work very hard to figure out that Norma is really Ruthie, snatched by a woman who had suffered several miscarriages and whose mental health was in decline.
The rest of the novel plays out how the the truth behind Ruthie's disappearance and identity slowly comes to light. I actually enjoyed this book a lot more than the above description might suggest. The characters are well drawn and interesting, and the author writes beautifully about loss, grief, a sense of identity, and prejudice. There are a number of events that reveal how the loss of Ruthie has affected every member of the family, and Norma's family also suffers from the secret they must hide.
Show Less
ISBN
1443468185 / 9781443468183