The Berry Pickers - Amanda Peters

The Berry Pickers

By Amanda Peters

  • Release Date: 2023-10-31
  • Genre: Fiction & Literature
Score: 4.5
4.5
From 603 Ratings

Description

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

Reviews

  • Sooo good!

    4
    By calianneC
    Sooo good!
  • So excellent in every way

    5
    By DCulver01
    The story is well told and believable, and the characters are wonderful.
  • Fantastic rollercoaster of emotions…

    5
    By theblackbanshee
    This was such a beautiful read. Amanda Peters is a powerful writer.
  • Amazing storytelling. Delightful family journeys.

    5
    By Baldacci Fan for Life
    I thoroughly enjoyed every chapter of this book. It is incredibly well written. The story is all about family and family struggles. I am so happy I chose to read it.
  • The Berry Pickers

    5
    By Pawd56
    I absolutely loved this book and I couldn’t put it down! The story of four year old Ruthie who was kidnapped and her journey to find her way back home! Fabulous read!
  • Beautifully written

    5
    By Consetta Mo'betta
    Amanda guides the reader through painful and moving twin life’s. Bringing you into these different but similar worlds.
  • Beautiful and moving story

    5
    By Checking my deposit
    As I sit here sniffing in snot and tears, I am so moved and touched by this beautiful story of a loving family and their lost child. I can’t say anything more. You must read this.
  • Well written

    3
    By Dale18wed
    Good story but very depressing. Check TW