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The Berry Pickers
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Start date
October 1, 2025
Finish date
October 31, 2025
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What Members Thought

Maureen
Oct 12, 2024 rated it it was amazing  ·  review of another edition
Shelves: favorites
A Mi’kmaq family every summer travel from Nova Scotia to Maine to pick blueberries for a living. Ruthie, four years old goes missing one day. Her six year old brother Joe was the last to see her. She is kidnapped and becomes Norma. Joe is distraught his entire life and blames himself. Her family never gave up hope that she is alive.
This is a heartbreaking story told in two perspectives, Joe’s and Norma’s.
It is a heartfelt story of family secrets, guilt, drama and grief.
A story I won’t forget.
Book Concierge
Digital audiobook narrated by Aaliya Warbus and Jordan Waunch.
5***** and a ❤

In 1962, an indigenous family from Nova Scotia arrives in Maine to pick blueberries for the summer, a family and tribal tradition. A month into the season the family’s youngest child, four-year-old Ruthie, vanishes. The last person to see her is her six-year-old brother Joe. Authorities aren’t too helpful, but other pickers join in an exhaustive search to no avail. This will haunt the family, and Joe, in particular, for
...more
Celia
"The Berry Pickers" by Amanda Peters is a quietly devastating debut that lingers in your mind long after the final page is turned. The novel follows the interwoven lives of a Mi’kmaq family from Nova Scotia and a white family in Maine, connected by the disappearance of four‐year-old Ruthie during a summer berry-picking trip in 1962.

Peters masterfully employs alternating perspectives—one from Joe, the guilt-ridden brother whose life has been marked by unresolved grief, and the other from Norma, a
...more
Flo
Jul 10, 2024 rated it really liked it
Oof this book made me cry so I definitely had some strong feelings about it. This is a novel that really focuses on family, generational trauma, racism, and the way that trauma and grief can live in and destroy our bodies years after the original event. It took me a little bit to get into this book, but once I did, I couldn't put it down. I really enjoyed the intertwining stories weaving Joe and Norma/Ruthie together and how the one event of Norma/Ruthie being kidnapped set their lives on a comp ...more
Lory Sakay
Jan 16, 2025 rated it really liked it  ·  review of another edition
I enjoyed this tragic book. Yes, it was tragic - the main character had so many negative life experiences and then, not surprisingly became more of a "train wreck" in adulthood. This, and the main, triggering event (which I shall not spoil), made it hard to keep reading at times but it also created a larger investment in the story for me. The back and forth chapters between the siblings helped maintain my interest and further connected me to this family. Lastly, the description of the topography ...more
Ƹ̴Ӂ̴Ʒ Jenn Ƹ̴Ӂ̴Ʒ Schu
Amanda Peters' debut novel is about love and loss, featuring two different societal groups of different stations. The story follows the life of Norma, a young girl who dreams of a different life and family. Norma's mother is quite disturbed by her dreams and begrudgingly agrees to have her visit a psychiatrist. Norma receives a journal on these visits where she writes about her dreams. Meanwhile, we learn about another family, one that is distraught over the loss of a child in the summer while i ...more
˜”*°•.˜”*°• Sheri  •°*”˜.•°*”˜
It's evident in the first 2 chapters, so I'm not giving anything away, when I say that Lenore is not a biological parent of Norma. It was sort of a bummer for me to know that so early on. Took away a bit of the mystery.

There's a lot of life situations involved in this story that can be discussed. Would be good for a book club.


...more
Kelly
Oct 20, 2025 rated it it was amazing
Navah
Jan 20, 2024 marked it as to-read
Robin P
Apr 02, 2025 rated it it was amazing
Shelves: 5-star-books
Taylor
Dec 05, 2024 rated it really liked it
Sharmon
Mar 17, 2024 rated it really liked it  ·  review of another edition
Shelves: 2024, audio, lor-botm
Amber K
Jul 10, 2024 is currently reading it
Scarlett
Jul 26, 2024 rated it it was amazing
bunny ୨୧
Nov 06, 2024 is currently reading it
Shelves: have