The Berry Pickers
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.
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Community Reviews
You know what? This was ok. Not bad, but not breathtaking. 2.5⭐️⭐️
I cannot lie: I didn’t like it for the first half. Until Norma/Ruthie started into her adult life and marriage, when hope for a different life began to take seed, then was terribly ripped away with the loss of her baby, did I start to feel invested in the book.
It was strange to me the obvious reveal that Norma was Ruthie, and her discovery of abduction, came about so late in her life when there seemed to be so much pointing her to the fact earlier. And I didn’t really understand Joe’s perspective being merit to his own chapters over say, Mae or Ben or even their mom, but he eventually grew on me. Even the outline of Norma/Ruthie’s rediscovery of her family was intentional and, by its end, beautiful.
I believe it was intentional that Norma as Ruthie was a known fact, and added to the depth of the discovery later. I didn’t like it to start but I could appreciate it later. Because even though you knew it was coming, it almost deepened the themes of grief, loss, and discovery throughout the book. And you could really feel her navigating the news in what felt like real time, and letting a former seed of hope take root.
Joe was an interesting way to keep connection with Ruthie’s family after her disappearance, of all the siblings, but his own dealings with grief and despair were unique to him. His “redemption arc” was sweet and the death and reunion with Ruthie was a perfect way for him to close out.
I felt like the author could’ve dived more into the indigenous culture and history. Not so much in political correctness (which, why aunt June and Alice were a couple was even a thing other than for the sake of saying it, was lost unto me.) but just to discover the richness of Ruthie’s heritage and family, something she lacked so much of and craved growing up. This would’ve been a beautiful addition and could’ve beefed up the ending. For the most part, when it came to this aspect specially, I was filling in blanks; as if the nail wasn’t hit square on the head and just bent. The themes of domestic violence (Joe), racism in the 60s, and family mysteries unveiled were only partially fleshed out. Which wasn’t BAD, but I felt “meh”. This could’ve been more thematic and dramatic but keeping it as such felt soft, and nostalgic to a degree.
Pacing was ok, leaning slow, and wasn’t overly thematic overall. These felt like real people, with real struggles and emotions and trauma. Deducted stars for where I felt we needed more culture, and something I cannot name. Perhaps just the slow start, and lack of investment on my end. I kind of want to say I wanted the book to be shorter but I also don’t agree with that. It felt fine. Overall a good read, would make a good movie if it was well done! I just wanted something EXTRA.
I cannot lie: I didn’t like it for the first half. Until Norma/Ruthie started into her adult life and marriage, when hope for a different life began to take seed, then was terribly ripped away with the loss of her baby, did I start to feel invested in the book.
It was strange to me the obvious reveal that Norma was Ruthie, and her discovery of abduction, came about so late in her life when there seemed to be so much pointing her to the fact earlier. And I didn’t really understand Joe’s perspective being merit to his own chapters over say, Mae or Ben or even their mom, but he eventually grew on me. Even the outline of Norma/Ruthie’s rediscovery of her family was intentional and, by its end, beautiful.
I believe it was intentional that Norma as Ruthie was a known fact, and added to the depth of the discovery later. I didn’t like it to start but I could appreciate it later. Because even though you knew it was coming, it almost deepened the themes of grief, loss, and discovery throughout the book. And you could really feel her navigating the news in what felt like real time, and letting a former seed of hope take root.
Joe was an interesting way to keep connection with Ruthie’s family after her disappearance, of all the siblings, but his own dealings with grief and despair were unique to him. His “redemption arc” was sweet and the death and reunion with Ruthie was a perfect way for him to close out.
I felt like the author could’ve dived more into the indigenous culture and history. Not so much in political correctness (which, why aunt June and Alice were a couple was even a thing other than for the sake of saying it, was lost unto me.) but just to discover the richness of Ruthie’s heritage and family, something she lacked so much of and craved growing up. This would’ve been a beautiful addition and could’ve beefed up the ending. For the most part, when it came to this aspect specially, I was filling in blanks; as if the nail wasn’t hit square on the head and just bent. The themes of domestic violence (Joe), racism in the 60s, and family mysteries unveiled were only partially fleshed out. Which wasn’t BAD, but I felt “meh”. This could’ve been more thematic and dramatic but keeping it as such felt soft, and nostalgic to a degree.
Pacing was ok, leaning slow, and wasn’t overly thematic overall. These felt like real people, with real struggles and emotions and trauma. Deducted stars for where I felt we needed more culture, and something I cannot name. Perhaps just the slow start, and lack of investment on my end. I kind of want to say I wanted the book to be shorter but I also don’t agree with that. It felt fine. Overall a good read, would make a good movie if it was well done! I just wanted something EXTRA.
What to say about this book… It was an ok story. Nothing special and I don’t feel it went anywhere. It was emotional/sad, and I found myself tearing up at parts, but overall, it just left me wanting more from the story. Ruthie was kidnapped, but there really wasn’t any mystery around it, not sure why I expected that, and we knew from that first chapter from Norma’s POV that she was Ruthie. Her chapters told of her sheltered life and eventual breaking out from under her mother’s thumb.
The chapters from Joe’s POV were a recounting of how the family delt with Ruthie’s disappearance and other tragedies that came after. Eventually Joe left the family and then it was his story of managing his anger and running away from everyone. I don’t know I just didn’t really see the point.
I saw in the back of the book that this was a debut for this author, and she’s a writer of Mi’kmaq history and settler ancestry. While we did get a glimpse into the life of a nomadic family that traveled together and worked the land picking berries during the late 60’s early 70’s, they could have any nationality. There wasn’t any deep dive into the Indigenous culture of the time. Any mentions in the book felt glossed over and I think that was a miss on the Author’s part. Exploring that in more detail could have enhanced the story and at least added some historical significance to it.
This was such a heartwarming novel, in the end. Yes, the main characters endure a lot of emotional, physical, and psychological trauma, but they also experience unconditional love and forgiveness. One of the central themes involves a girl confused about her racial origins and another theme involves a family who has endured much loss and inevitable racism. I highly recommend this book.
Told from the alternating perspectives of Joe and Norma, this is a heartfelt and emotionally grounded story. There’s no real mystery about Norma’s identity—you realize almost immediately that she is Ruthie—so the tension comes from discovering when and how she’ll learn the truth about her past.
The novel is clearly well-written and well-researched, and it focuses primarily on the lives Joe and Ruthie/Norma built after Ruthie went missing. Their experiences, grief, and resilience form the core of the narrative, giving it a strong emotional pull.
However, a few elements made the reading experience less smooth. The story jumps between timelines with little to no warning, making it difficult to tell whether a scene is happening in the present or at some undefined point in the past. Flashbacks tend to begin abruptly, without clear cues or anchors, which can leave the reader struggling to orient themselves. There are very few markers to help track the timeframe, and that lack of clarity occasionally disrupts the flow.
Overall, it’s a touching story with memorable characters, but the timeline transitions could have been handled more clearly to enhance the reading experience
Told from the alternating perspectives of Joe and Norma, this is a heartfelt and emotionally grounded story. There’s no real mystery about Norma’s identity—you realize almost immediately that she is Ruthie—so the tension comes from discovering when and how she’ll learn the truth about her past.
The novel is clearly well-written and well-researched, and it focuses primarily on the lives Joe and Ruthie/Norma built after Ruthie went missing. Their experiences, grief, and resilience form the core of the narrative, giving it a strong emotional pull.
However, a few elements made the reading experience less smooth. The story jumps between timelines with little to no warning, making it difficult to tell whether a scene is happening in the present or at some undefined point in the past. Flashbacks tend to begin abruptly, without clear cues or anchors, which can leave the reader struggling to orient themselves. There are very few markers to help track the timeframe, and that lack of clarity occasionally disrupts the flow.
Overall, it’s a touching story with memorable characters, but the timeline transitions could have been handled more clearly to enhance the reading experience
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