The Berry Pickers

De: Amanda Peters

Narrado por: Aaliya Warbus, Jordan Waunch

A four-year-old Mi’kmaq girl goes missing from the blueberry fields of Maine, sparking a tragic mystery that haunts the survivors, unravels a family, and remains unsolved for nearly fifty years

July 1962. Following in the tradition of Indigenous workers from Nova Scotia, a Mi’kmaq family 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 fans 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.

©2023 Amanda Peters (P)2023 HarperCollinsPublishers

Narration issues

The narration just didn’t match the story. I wanted to know the story but really disliked the narration

Poor narration

The story was ok. Very predictable. I found the narration to be dull, monotone and it kept me wondering what it would have been like if i was reading it on my own.

So incredibly sad….

Her writing is great with beautiful character development but the story is so incredibly sad. It’s hard to get through at times.

Heartfelt book

I really enjoyed this book and the listening to the voices in it. Feel good ending and took me on a journey to get there.

Great story

Loved this story. At times the narrating felt monotone with not enough feeling, but nonetheless you were able to feel the emotions.

The love of the true family and the injustice done to indigenous people.

This was such a moving story, sad, infuriating and so well written and read. I felt every emotion and could imagine I was Ruthie. It tells of the true meaning of family and how that love and connection never die.
It was so good I wished it would have continued. I wanted more!

Berry Pickers

Ruthie and Joe tugged at my heart strings. Every mother’s nightmare and a sad and touching novel but with a HEA.

Hope

This book goes to some very uncomfortable places. You will be brought along by a mother's hope and a bother's love. I couldn't put it down.

The love in family…

I really enjoyed the book. If I have to post something here- the sadness of loss.

Good storyline

Story needed less of Joe and his exploits. Maybe if there had been more connections about the effect of the kidnapping on all of the family, I wouldn’t have gotten tired of Joe.