Short Synopsis
Heart Berries is a powerful, poetic memoir of a woman's coming of age on the Seabird Island Indian Reservation in the Pacific Northwest.

Full Synopsis
Heart Berries is a powerful, poetic memoir of a woman's coming of age on the Seabird Island Indian Reservation in the Pacific Northwest. Having survived a profoundly dysfunctional upbringing only to find herself hospitalized and facing a dual diagnosis of post traumatic stress disorder and bipolar II disorder; Terese Marie Mailhot is given a notebook and begins to write her way out of trauma. The triumphant result is Heart Berries, a memorial for Mailhot's mother, a social worker and activist who had a thing for prisoners; a story of reconciliation with her father—an abusive drunk and a brilliant artist—who was murdered under mysterious circumstances; and an elegy on how difficult it is to love someone while dragging the long shadows of shame.

Mailhot trusts us to understand that memory isn't exact, but melded to imagination, pain, and what we can bring ourselves to accept. Her unique and at times unsettling voice graphically illustrates her mental state. As she writes, she discovers her own true voice, seizes control of her story, and, in so doing, reestablishes her connection to her family, to her people, and to her place in the world.

"Rainy Fields narrates this deeply original memoir in solemn tones that suit the work." ---AudioFile

"To read this book is to engage with one of our very best minds at work." ---Toni Jensen, author of From the Hilltop

"I am so grateful to Terese Marie Mailhot, a fiery new voice, whose words devoured my heart." ---Kyo Maclear, bestselling author of Birds Art Life

"Fields, herself a registered member of the Muskogee Creek Nation of Cherokee descent, is Mailhot's complementary conduit, intuiting the subtle rhythms of her wrenching debut." ---Library Journal Audio Review

"[R]ead with skilled precision by Rainy Fields . . . " -Tribal College Journal

NPR Best Book

New York Times Bestseller

BookPage Bestseller

Library Journal Bestseller