The Berry Pickers

By: Amanda Peters

Narrated by: Aaliya Warbus, Jordan Waunch

Brought to you by Penguin.

WINNER OF THE 2023 BARNES & NOBLE DISCOVER PRIZE
WINNER OF THE 2024 ANDREW CARNEGIE MEDAL FOR EXCELLENCE IN FICTION

One family’s deepest pain. Another’s darkest secret. Who will they be when the truth comes out?

On a hot day in 1960s Maine, six-year-old Joe watches his little sister Ruthie, sitting on her favourite rock at the edge of the blueberry fields, while their family, Mi’kmaq people from Nova Scotia, pick fruit. That afternoon, Ruthie vanishes without a trace. As the last person to see her, Joe will be forever haunted by grief, guilt, and the agony of imagining how his life could have been.

In an affluent suburb nearby, Norma is growing up as the only child of unhappy parents. She is smart, precocious, and bursting with questions she isn’t allowed to ask – questions about her missing baby photos; questions about her dark skin; questions about the strange, vivid dreams of campfires and warm embraces that return night after night. Norma senses there are things her parents aren’t telling her, but it will take decades to unravel the secrets they have kept buried since she was a little girl.

The Berry Pickers is an exquisitely moving story of unrelenting hope, unwavering love, and the power of family – even in the face of grief and betrayal.

'For fans of Celeste Ng and Ann Patchett, this quietly beautiful book will break, then mend, your heart' Amazon, The Best Books of 2023

'Marvellous ... Amanda Peters is going to be the next big thing ... The Berry Pickers is a triumph' Katherena Vermette, author of The Strangers

'Peters excels in writing characters for whom we can't help rooting' The New York Times

'Lucid and assured' The New Yorker, Best Books of 2023

©2023 Amanda Peters (P)2023 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

For fans of Celeste Ng and Ann Patchett, this quietly beautiful book will break, then mend, your heart (Sarah Gelman)

Something tender and bittersweet.

A quiet, emotionally layered novel that unfolds with tenderness and weight. The writing is gentle but powerful, and the family story at its core feels both intimate and universal.

What stayed with me most was how the book handles grief, identity, and generational pain without ever losing its sense of hope. It’s a slow, steady ache the kind of book that settles in your chest and lingers long after you’re done.

A beautifully told story. Thoughtful, human, and quietly heartbreaking in the best way.