The Berry Pickers – by Amanda Peters – independent book review – Fiction

A great book to start 2024! THE BERRY PICKERS is a rich, deeply emotional novel about family, love, guilt, resilience, and hope — built around a single tragic event. It’s based on stories told to the author by her father. Be prepared; I cried multiple times. Awarded four stars on Goodreads.

This is about a family of Mi’kmaqs (one of 634 First Nations peoples in Canada) living in Nova Scotia who crosses the border into Maine each year for seasonal berry picking work. They are a loving and supportive group, despite subsistence living. Then, one day, their 4-year-old daughter, Ruthie, goes missing — a tragedy that impacts each member of the family differently.

At the start of THE BERRY PICKERS, we meet Joe, who after many years on the road, has returned to the family home. Now in his 50s and dying of cancer, he is being nursed by his brother Ben, sister Mae, and elderly mother. With severe physical limitations, Joe spends hours lying in bed, ruminating about his impending death, reliving memories, and reviewing his life decisions.

Employing a non-linear timeline, with alternating chapters, Amanda Peters also presents the story of Norma, growing up in Maine, who is the only child of a couple with a long history of previous miscarriages. As a result, there is an air of sadness that hangs over her family home and Norma grows up feeling the heavy responsibility of being the chief source of fulfillment for both her remote father and overly controlling mother.

The twists and turns of each story are unpredictable, all leading to a suspenseful conclusion. Apart from a well-crafted story, I also enjoyed the added benefit of being invited into a Mi’kmaq home and learning more about how itinerant workers actually live. It’s a book that is likely to make you re-evaluate whatever pre-conceived notions you might bring.

This the author’s debut novel and is a 2023 Barnes & Noble Discover Prize Winner and a fiction finalist for the 2024 Carnegie Medal for Excellence. Learn more about Amanda Peters, who is both a descendent of the Mi’kmaq and an Associate Professor of English at Acadia University.