The Berry Pickers
In the summer of 1962, a Mi’kmaq family arrives in Maine to pick berries. Soon after, four-year-old Ruthie disappears, last seen by her six-year-old brother, Joe. Ruthie–now Norma–spends decades being raised by a helicopter mother and a distant father, always haunted by nightmares and bothered that she looks a little different. Joe remains tormented by guilt and the loss of his sister. As the family continues to search for her, Norma slowly picks apart the inconsistencies in her life, searching for the truth about herself.
Told over decades, alternately by Joe and Norma, The Berry Pickers is a riveting story of trauma, grief, and struggle, as well as privilege and prejudice, and how all of these things are interwoven. It’s an incredible debut, and I don’t think you can go wrong with either the print or audio versions.
This post may include affiliate links. That means if you click and make a purchase, I may earn a small commission. Please see Disclosures for more information.
Publisher’s Description
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.