Description:

This month’s JHBC selection, The Berry Pickers, by Nova Scotian author Amanda Peters has found a particularly receptive audience within book club communities, including the Jen Hatmaker Book Club, for exploring universal human emotions and experiences, and for examining unique cultural perspectives. By masterfully blending her father's compelling stories as a Maine berry picker with her own extensive career in Indigenous governance, The Berry Pickers delves into a unique and original plot surrounding a Mi’kmaw family that grapples with the corrosive effects of guilt and shame, and the possibility of redemption. Peters reveals how the debut novel initially took shape as a short story, but as the beautifully-flawed characters and tendrilled themes began to unfold, the narrative organically expanded into the full-fledged novel that it is now, which has been translated into an impressive 22 languages and has been awarded the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction.

Thought-provoking Quotes:

I couldn't have written this story when I was 21 because I didn’t have all of the life experience that I have now. – Amanda Peters
Fiction readers are just better people because literature is about the human condition; it helps us develop empathy. – Amanda Peters
I love the writing process. I love creating a story. I love that high you get when you get it just right, when a sentence does exactly what I want it to do. – Amanda Peters

Resources Mentioned in This Episode:

The Berry Pickers: A Novel by Amanda Peters - https://amzn.to/4hAYfUM
Waiting for the Long Night Moon: Stories by Amanda Peters - https://amzn.to/4hGNTTw
John Steinbeck books - https://amzn.to/4c1B1pJ
John Steinbeck Center - https://steinbeck.org/
Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction - https://www.ala.org/carnegie-medals/2024-winners
Pearly Everlasting: A Novel by Tammy Armstrong - https://amzn.to/420or5r
All the Young Men by Ruth Coker Burks - https://amzn.to/420oT3D
What Strange Paradise: A novel by Omar El Akkad - https://amzn.to/4kXs8l6

Guest’s Links:

Website - https://amandapetersauthor.com/

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/amandapetersauthor/

Twitter - https://x.com/amandapetersaut?lang=en

Connect with Jen!

Jen’s Website - https://jenhatmaker.com/

Jen’s Instagram - https://instagram.com/jenhatmaker

Jen’s Twitter - https://twitter.com/jenHatmaker/

Jen’s Facebook - https://facebook.com/jenhatmaker

Jen’s YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/user/JenHatmaker

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March 2025: Amanda Peters’ The Berry Pickers