Review By: Sarah Tripp
Published: April 2023
Genre(s): Historical Fiction, Contemporary Fiction, Mystery
Audience: Adult, Upper High School
Content Warnings: Kidnapping, Missing Child, Violence, Murder, Racism
Goodreads Link: The Berry Pickers
Publisher’s Summary:
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 community, and remains unsolved for nearly fifty years.
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 are not telling her. Unwilling to abandon her intuition, she will spend decades trying to uncover this family secret.
Review:
I was captivated by this book because of its setting and the compelling story of an Indigenous family. My interest was piqued by the desire to understand the struggles Indigenous families faced during this era in the U.S. While the novel offers some historical context, it is primarily character-driven. The characters are richly developed, making it easy to become invested in their lives.
The narrative can be challenging to read at times, given the hardships the family endures and the lack of support from those around them. Their experiences poignantly highlight the unfair treatment Indigenous families often received. The ending was particularly difficult to accept, as it reveals a family’s willingness to conceal dark secrets, perpetuating another woman’s worst nightmare through their silence.
