May 26
Westminster Book Group
9:30 a.m. • Fellowship
10:00 a.m. • Presentation
Goodpasture Hall
Led by Mary Hande
The Berry Pickers a novel by Amanda Peters
It was a midsummer day when Joe and his family arrived in Maine to pick blueberries for the summer season. Joe’s family were Mik’maqs, or indigenous people from Nova Scotia.
His family included Mom, Dad, Mae, Charlie, Ben, Joe (6 years old), and the youngest, Ruthie (4 years old). A few weeks into the picking, Joe and Ruthie were playing on their favorite rock when Joe suddenly could not find Ruthie. She seemed to have disappeared without warning.
Joe said, “Until the day I die, I will remember the sound of all those voices as they searched and yelled for Ruthie.”
Joe is a narrator for much of his family’s story of the years ahead and remains unable to accept Ruthie’s mysterious disappearance. Despite their shared grief, Joe’s family also finds support through the love of family and shared memories. The local policeman didn’t help in the search for Ruthie because there’s “nothing much we can do. She’s not been gone long enough.” Also, Ruthie’s parents “were not proper Maine citizens” and were discriminated against as “transients.”
But this is a novel with two story lines.
In Maine, a young girl grows up as an only child, named Norma, in an affluent family. Norma’s mother has frequent and debilitating dreams. Norma also wakes up to vivid and puzzling sensory dreams, such as the appearance and odor of a campfire. Grief, guilt, and cultural identity are major themes.
Buy a copy of the book here.
