About the book
BOOK SUMMARY
In 1962, four-year-old Ruthie, the youngest child of a Mi’kmaq family from Nova Scotia, disappears while her family is working the blueberry harvest in Maine. Decades later, the novel follows the lasting effects of her disappearance on her brother Joe and on Norma.
Published 2023
Literary Fiction
320 pages
Bland, and everyone failed Norma
February 4, 2026
Maybe I went into this book with my expectations too high, because I originally saw it on an Amazon’s Best Books of the Year list, but it ended up being a pretty bland read for me. Not terrible at all, just not a stand-out.
The story starts off with a disappearance, which is pretty clearly an abduction based on the book excerpt alone, and then we proceed to hear about a couple of people living pretty boring uneventful lives.
The book touched on some Big Heavy Subjects, like child kidnapping and miscarriage and alcohol abuse, but still somehow none of it felt very deep or meaningful to me. The simple, matter-of-fact writing style also didn’t help to elevate the narrative at all.
Everyone in Norma’s life who was aware of her circumstances is an awful person and I will not be conceding any exceptions to that statement.
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