Description
A powerful, devastating novel about family, belonging, and the agony of imagining the life you should have had, sparked by the disappearance of a four-year-old Mi'kmaq girl from the blueberry fields of Maine. One family's deepest pain. Another family's darkest secret. On a hot day in 1960s Maine, six-year-old Joe watches his little sister Ruthie, sitting on her favourite rock at the edge of the blueberry fields, while their family, Mi'kmaq people from Nova Scotia, pick fruit. That afternoon, Ruthie vanishes without a trace. As the last person to see her, Joe will be forever haunted by grief, guilt, and the agony of imagining how his life could have been. In an affluent suburb nearby, Norma is growing up as the only child of unhappy parents. She is smart, precocious, and bursting with questions she isn't allowed to ask - questions about her missing baby photos; questions about her dark skin; questions about the strange, vivid dreams of campfires and warm embraces that return night after night. Norma senses there are things her parents aren't telling her, but it will take decades to unravel the secrets they have kept buried since she was a little girl. The Berry Pickers is an exquisitely moving story of unrelenting hope, unwavering love, and the power of family - even in the face of grief and betrayal.
About the Author
AMANDA PETERS is a writer of Mi'kmaq and settler ancestry. A graduate of the Master of Fine Arts Program at the Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA) in Santa Fe, New Mexico, she has a Certificate in Creative Writing from the University of Toronto. She is the winner of the 2021 Indigenous Voices Award for Unpublished Prose and a participant in the 2021 Writers' Trust Rising Stars program. She lives in the Annapolis Valley, Nova Scotia. The Berry Pickers is her first novel.
Reviews
For fans of Celeste Ng and Ann Patchett, this quietly beautiful book will break, then mend, your heart -- Sarah Gelman * Amazon, The Best Books of 2023 *
The ghosts of lost children haunt generations in this lucid and assured debut * The New Yorker, Best Books of 2023 *
A poignant debut from a writer to watch * Kirkus, Starred Review *
Marvellous ... I can't believe Amanda Peters is just getting started ... She's going to be the next big thing ... The Berry Pickers is a triumph * Katherena Vermette, author of The Strangers *
Enthralling ... Powerfully rendered ... A cogent and heartfelt look at the ineffable pull of family ties * Publishers Weekly *
Wonderful ... Indigenous stories like this matter, and while little is easy for Peters' characters, in the end, for all of them - even those who stole a small child - there is hope * Emily Dziuban, Booklist *
Poignant ... Reads like a modern literary classic ... Moving, heartbreaking, and hopeful, The Berry Pickers is a powerful tale of haunting regret, bonds that will never be broken, and unrelenting love * Nick Medina, author of Sisters of the Lost Nation *
[Peters] excels in writing characters for whom we can't help rooting * New York Times *
The Berry Pickers is just like a handful of berries ... filled with so much sweet, so much sour, so much juice. Reading this book, I was only ever hungry when it ended * Morgan Talty, author of Night of the Living Rez *
Peters brilliantly crafts a multi-layered tale of how one irrational act creates irrevocable harm that ripples through multiple lives ... A fluid and emotional read that is both plainly and beautifully rendered ... An amazing read from an amazing new voice * Michelle Good, author of Five Little Indians *
A beautiful novel about family and about the way it makes and breaks and remakes us again ... It contains a cast of characters you will never forget. With this book, Amanda Peters establishes herself as an essential new voice * Alexander MacLeod, author of Animal Person *
Peters weaves a persistent thread of hope and resilience through her remarkable debut novel * Allison Zhao, Acta Victoriana *
Lyrical ... You cannot help but love these characters from the first chapter, they stay with you long after the last page * Cherie Dimaline, author of The Marrow Thieves *
Hauntingly beautiful ... A page-turner that will stay with readers long after they've finished reading it * The Suburban *
Heartbreaking and genuine, this saga of a family dealing with the disappearance of a beloved child will resonate with readers of historical fiction, Indigenous fiction and anyone who enjoys a solidly written story * Winnipeg Free Press *
This emotional debut is a beautifully told story of identity, loss, and the power of love * Chatelaine *
Offers a deep exploration into the human spirit and the meaning of connection * Sydney Walsh, Atlantic Books *
Written in crystalline clear prose and brilliantly descriptive of a time and place, The Berry Pickers tells a moving story especially relevant to our times, when so much of Canada's dark past increasingly comes to light' * 2023 Atwood Gibson Writers' Trust Fiction Prize Jury *
An unputdownable novel of identity, forgiveness, and insistent hope * The Monitor *
A profound study of the love, grief and betrayals of two families * inews, The best new books to read in November 2023 *
Book Information
ISBN 9780241692431
Author Amanda Peters
Format Hardback
Page Count 320
Imprint Fig Tree
Publisher Penguin Books Ltd
Weight(grams) 536g
Dimensions(mm) 240mm * 162mm * 31mm
About the Author
AMANDA PETERS is a writer of Mi'kmaq and settler ancestry. A graduate of the Master of Fine Arts Program at the Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA) in Santa Fe, New Mexico, she has a Certificate in Creative Writing from the University of Toronto. She is the winner of the 2021 Indigenous Voices Award for Unpublished Prose and a participant in the 2021 Writers' Trust Rising Stars program. She lives in the Annapolis Valley, Nova Scotia. The Berry Pickers is her first novel.
Reviews
For fans of Celeste Ng and Ann Patchett, this quietly beautiful book will break, then mend, your heart -- Sarah Gelman * Amazon, The Best Books of 2023 *
The ghosts of lost children haunt generations in this lucid and assured debut * The New Yorker, Best Books of 2023 *
A poignant debut from a writer to watch * Kirkus, Starred Review *
Marvellous ... I can't believe Amanda Peters is just getting started ... She's going to be the next big thing ... The Berry Pickers is a triumph * Katherena Vermette, author of The Strangers *
Enthralling ... Powerfully rendered ... A cogent and heartfelt look at the ineffable pull of family ties * Publishers Weekly *
Wonderful ... Indigenous stories like this matter, and while little is easy for Peters' characters, in the end, for all of them - even those who stole a small child - there is hope * Emily Dziuban, Booklist *
Poignant ... Reads like a modern literary classic ... Moving, heartbreaking, and hopeful, The Berry Pickers is a powerful tale of haunting regret, bonds that will never be broken, and unrelenting love * Nick Medina, author of Sisters of the Lost Nation *
[Peters] excels in writing characters for whom we can't help rooting * New York Times *
The Berry Pickers is just like a handful of berries ... filled with so much sweet, so much sour, so much juice. Reading this book, I was only ever hungry when it ended * Morgan Talty, author of Night of the Living Rez *
Peters brilliantly crafts a multi-layered tale of how one irrational act creates irrevocable harm that ripples through multiple lives ... A fluid and emotional read that is both plainly and beautifully rendered ... An amazing read from an amazing new voice * Michelle Good, author of Five Little Indians *
A beautiful novel about family and about the way it makes and breaks and remakes us again ... It contains a cast of characters you will never forget. With this book, Amanda Peters establishes herself as an essential new voice * Alexander MacLeod, author of Animal Person *
Peters weaves a persistent thread of hope and resilience through her remarkable debut novel * Allison Zhao, Acta Victoriana *
Lyrical ... You cannot help but love these characters from the first chapter, they stay with you long after the last page * Cherie Dimaline, author of The Marrow Thieves *
Hauntingly beautiful ... A page-turner that will stay with readers long after they've finished reading it * The Suburban *
Heartbreaking and genuine, this saga of a family dealing with the disappearance of a beloved child will resonate with readers of historical fiction, Indigenous fiction and anyone who enjoys a solidly written story * Winnipeg Free Press *
This emotional debut is a beautifully told story of identity, loss, and the power of love * Chatelaine *
Offers a deep exploration into the human spirit and the meaning of connection * Sydney Walsh, Atlantic Books *
Written in crystalline clear prose and brilliantly descriptive of a time and place, The Berry Pickers tells a moving story especially relevant to our times, when so much of Canada's dark past increasingly comes to light' * 2023 Atwood Gibson Writers' Trust Fiction Prize Jury *
An unputdownable novel of identity, forgiveness, and insistent hope * The Monitor *
A profound study of the love, grief and betrayals of two families * inews, The best new books to read in November 2023 *
Book Information
ISBN 9780241692431
Author Amanda Peters
Format Hardback
Page Count 320
Imprint Fig Tree
Publisher Penguin Books Ltd
Weight(grams) 536g
Dimensions(mm) 240mm * 162mm * 31mm
