Review
Author: Amanda Peters
Reviewed by: SHA
Issue: March 2024
Set in 1962, a Mi'kmah tribe family travels from Nova Scotia to Maine to harvest berries as migrant workers. This has been a regular summer event for them, but one afternoon, the family's youngest child, four-year-old Ruthie, disappears. All efforts to find Ruthie fail and, her six-year-old brother Joe, the last one to see her, is haunted about this for the rest of his life. More tragedies beset this family as Joe witnesses the murder of his brother, Charlie, sending Joe over-the-top emotionally and causing him to hit the bottle and then to a disabling accident and an extended trip away from his home. This story is narrated through the perspectives of Joe and Norma, a young girl in Maine from an affluent family with an aloof father and an overly protective mother. Norma senses that something about her life is out of place and her dreams feel very much like memories. Using the alternative voice of Joe and Norma, the story switches back and forth between the past and present as the years go on. Joe, at age 56, is terminally ill and being cared for by his sister Mae. Reflecting on his life, his memories portray Ruthie's disappearance in the berry field and the impact on his family, some of whom believe that she is still alive somewhere. Brother Ben even believes he saw Ruthie on a trip to Boston. Although readers will see just where this story is going, the author does an excellent job of exposing the divergent lives of Joe and Norma and their families and keeping the reader interested in just how the dots will ultimately be connected by Norma. The author's characterizations of the family members--particularly Joe--are excellent and this story of a family impacted by tragedy reads very well.