Indian migrant girl stolen at 4 yrs old, raised as middle class white; deus ex machina finish….but, Good characters ( )

Decided this would be a DNF at 54% of the audi0book. The narrators are fine - they simply have almost nothing with which to work. The narrative is all tell and no show and even the telling lacks imagination and style. Given their backgrounds, the characters should be leaping off the page but they feel flat. Two stars for the author choosing indigenous people from Nova Scotia as her main characters but these characters deserve a better storyteller. ( )

In the summer of 1962, a Native American family travels from Nova Scotia to Maine to harvest blueberries. A few weeks later, Ruthie, the 4-year old daughter, disappears. She was left in the care of her 6-year old brother who last saw her sitting on a rock. Despite intensive searching, no sign of her could be found. Her disappearance haunts the family members for years, especially Joe, who is convinced that she is still alive somewhere, and older brother Ben, who, about 16 years later, believes that he saw her at a protest but could not get her attention. Ruthie's red boots sit on a closet shelf as a reminder of what was lost. The family faces hardship and tragedy due to their low status and ethnicity. As the story progresses, Joe is dying of cancer and tells most of the family's history in flashbacks. He is trying to make amends for the wrongs in he has committed and is still hopeful that Ruthie will be found before he dies.

This family's story alternates with that of another family, a local doctor, his wife, and their daughter Norma. Although the father is a doctor in high standing in the community, they aren't much happier. The mother is high strung, domineering and overprotective. Norma is rarely allowed out of the house except with family members. People often comment on Norma's complexion, which is darker than her parents', and she wonders why there are no baby pictures of herself in the family scrapbook. The family has a reason for everything: her complexion is due to some far-back Italian ancestors, and they were just too busy taking care of her (plus her mother's health was frail) to remember to take photos. The reader doesn't have to work very hard to figure out that Norma is really Ruthie, snatched by a woman who had suffered several miscarriages and whose mental health was in decline.

The rest of the novel plays out how the the truth behind Ruthie's disappearance and identity slowly comes to light. I actually enjoyed this book a lot more than the above description might suggest. The characters are well drawn and interesting, and the author writes beautifully about loss, grief, a sense of identity, and prejudice. There are a number of events that reveal how the loss of Ruthie has affected every member of the family, and Norma's family also suffers from the secret they must hide. ( )

Lovely story of family lost and found, but flat characters and uninspired narrators. ( )

One of the most delightful books I've read in a long time. Sad, tragic but always real....uplifting, discouraging all beautifully written.
I'm waiting for the next Amanda. ( )