The Berry Pickers begins in July 1962 when a Mi'kmaq family from Nova Scotia comes to Maine to pick blueberries for the summer. When the four year old girl, Ruthie, goes missing it is the second time tragedy has come for the family. Her older brother Joe, six at the time, feels the ripples of her loss throughout his life and we learn all about the family's grief as this novel spans 50 years of time. 

Meanwhile in Maine, a little girl named Norma grows up an only child with a distant father and an overbearing, overprotective mother. Norma is bothered by recurring dreams and visions that her family dismisses as her imagination. As she grows, Norma notices hard to explain differences between herself and her parents. She quietly pursues her family's secrets for years. 

This is a beautiful, emotional story of an Indigenous family torn apart by circumstances and system racism. And it's the story of a family that hid secrets and their motivations. Even with all of that, it is a story that feels quiet, important, and unassuming. I look forward to more books from Amanda Peters, her Indigenous perspective and experience straddling two identities has created a wonderful book in this debut.