Catapult
The Berry Pickers
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NATIONAL BESTSELLER
2023 Barnes & Noble Discover Prize Winner
Winner of the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction
A four-year-old Mi'kmaq girl goes missing from the blueberry fields of Maine, sparking a mystery that will haunt the survivors, unravel a family, and remain unsolved for nearly fifty years
"A stunning debut about love, race, brutality, and the balm of forgiveness." --People, A Best New Book
July 1962. A Mi'kmaq family from Nova Scotia 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.
"A harrowing tale of Indigenous family separation . . . [Peters] excels in writing characters for whom we can't help rooting . . . With The Berry Pickers, Peters takes on the monumental task of giving witness to people who suffered through racist attempts of erasure like her Mi'kmaw ancestors." --The New York Times Book Review
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Book Details
ISBN:
9781646221950
EAN:
9781646221950
Binding:
Hardcover
Pages:
320
Authors:
Amanda Peters
Publisher:
Catapult
Published Date: 2023-31-10
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Interesting but sad. Very readable.
Not sure why I waited so long to get started on this after adding it to my kindle library, but once I got going, I was enthralled. The questions that formed in my mind as the character lines developed were complex and only answered in the final chapters as everything fell into place. The characters were easy to sympathize with, while not necessarily being likable. The setting was unique, unlike anything I’ve read before…willing to explore other works by this author. All in all, an exceptional novel!
I highly recommend this book. A great discussion book on many levels. American Indians, our treatment of migrant workers & the beauty of Nova Scotia!
This is a really hard book to read. The pain of losing a child who one day just disappears without a trace is devastating. Her loss deeply affects her brother Joe who's unable to recover from the guilt he feels. I was happy there was a reunion at the end although 50 years too late. This was a complex book to write and the characters, particularly Joe and Ruthie, were so well done. Kudos to Ms. Peters, a great debut novel.
A wonderful story of love, loss and betrayal. I liked the way the author told both sides of the story.
