Heart Berries
A Memoir
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wish list failed.
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Buy Now for $23.31
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Rainy Fields
-
Written by:
-
Terese Marie Mailhot
About this listen
Canada Reads 2019 longlist.
National best seller.
New York Times best seller.
Finalist for the 2018 Hilary Weston Writers' Trust Prize for Nonfiction.
Finalist for the 2018 Governor General's Literary Awards.
Longlisted for the 2019 RBC Taylor Prize.
Winner of the Blue Metropolis First Peoples Prize.
Winner of the Spalding Prize for the Promotion of Peace and Justice in Literature.
Winner of the 2019 Whiting Award for Nonfiction.
A New York Times Editor's Choice.
Shortlisted for the 2019 Kobo Emerging Writer Prize.
A Globe and Mail best book of 2018.
Shortlisted for the 2019 Edna Staebler Award for Creative Nonfiction.
A New York Times Editor's Choice.
A Globe and Mail best book of 2018.
A CBC best book of 2018.
A Toronto Star best book of 2018.
A Walrus best book of 2018.
An NPR best book of 2018.
A Chatelaine best book of 2018.
A Bustle best book of 2018.
A GQ best book of 2018.
A Thrillist best book of 2018.
A Book Riot best book of 2018.
An Electric Lit best book of 2018.
An Entropy best book of 2018.
A Hill Times best book of 2018.
A BookPage best book of 2018.
A Library Journal best book of 2018.
A Goodreads best book of 2018.
A New York Public Library best book of 2018.
Named one of the most anticipated books of 2018 by: Chatelaine, Entertainment Weekly, ELLE, Cosmopolitan, Esquire, Huffington Post, B*tch, NYLON, BuzzFeed, Bustle, The Rumpus, and Goodreads.
Selected by Emma Watson as the Our Shared Shelf Book Club Pick for March/April 2018.
Guileless and refreshingly honest, Terese Mailhot's debut memoir chronicles her struggle to balance the beauty of her Native heritage with the often desperate and chaotic reality of life on the reservation.
Heart Berries is a powerful, poetic memoir of a woman's coming of age on the Seabird Island Indian Reservation in British Columbia. Having survived a profoundly dysfunctional upbringing only to find herself hospitalized and facing a dual diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder and bipolar II, Terese 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 the reader 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.
©2018 Terese Marie Mailhot (P)2018 Doubleday CanadaYou may also enjoy...
-
In My Own Moccasins
- A Memoir of Resilience
- Written by: Helen Knott
- Narrated by: Helen Knott
- Length: 8 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Helen Knott, a highly accomplished Indigenous woman, seems to have it all. But in her memoir, she offers a different perspective. In My Own Moccasins is an unflinching account of addiction, intergenerational trauma, and the wounds brought on by sexual violence. It is also the story of sisterhood, the power of ceremony, the love of family, and the possibility of redemption.
-
-
Heart-wretchingly Honest
- By Julia Mark on 2021-12-12
Written by: Helen Knott
-
Life in the City of Dirty Water
- A Memoir of Healing
- Written by: Clayton Thomas-Muller
- Narrated by: Clayton Thomas-Muller
- Length: 8 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
There have been many Clayton Thomas-Mullers: The child who played with toy planes as an escape from domestic and sexual abuse, enduring the intergenerational trauma of Canada's residential school system; the angry youngster who defended himself with fists and sharp wit against racism and violence, at school and on the streets of Winnipeg and small-town British Columbia; the tough teenager who, at 17, managed a drug house run by members of his family, and slipped in and out of juvie, operating in a world of violence and pain.
-
-
Both insightful snd hopeful
- By Debra Ransom on 2024-10-09
Written by: Clayton Thomas-Muller
-
Unbroken
- My Fight for Survival, Hope, and Justice for Indigenous Women and Girls
- Written by: Angela Sterritt
- Narrated by: Angela Sterritt
- Length: 9 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Unbroken is an extraordinary work of memoir and investigative journalism focusing on missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls, written by an award-winning Gitxsan journalist who survived life on the streets against all odds.
-
-
Informative and powerful
- By Robin Anderson on 2023-09-15
Written by: Angela Sterritt
-
Split Tooth
- Written by: Tanya Tagaq
- Narrated by: Tanya Tagaq
- Length: 5 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A girl grows up in Nunavut in the 1970s. She knows joy and friendship and parents' love. She knows boredom and listlessness and bullying. She knows the tedium of the everyday world and the raw, amoral power of the ice and sky, the seductive energy of the animal world. She knows the ravages of alcohol and violence at the hands of those she should be able to trust. She sees the spirits that surround her and the immense power that dwarfs all of us. When she becomes pregnant, she must navigate all this.
-
-
Beautiful, haunting and chilling. It's visceral.
- By JJNeeps on 2019-02-08
Written by: Tanya Tagaq
-
Unreconciled
- Family, Truth, and Indigenous Resistance
- Written by: Jesse Wente
- Narrated by: Jesse Wente
- Length: 6 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Part memoir and part manifesto, Unreconciled is a stirring call to arms to put truth over the flawed concept of reconciliation, and to build a new, respectful relationship between the nation of Canada and Indigenous peoples.
-
-
Brilliant Must Listen/Read for all Canadians
- By Cass on 2022-02-04
Written by: Jesse Wente
-
Him Standing
- Written by: Richard Wagamese
- Narrated by: Billy Merasty
- Length: 2 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Lucas Smoke learns the Ojibway art of carving from his grandfather, he proves to be a natural. He can literally make people come to life in wood. Then Lucas’s growing reputation attracts a mysterious stranger, who offers him a large advance to carve a spirit mask. This mask is to represent the master, but Lucas must find its face in his dreams. As his dreams become more and more disturbing, he feels himself changing. And the mask takes control of his life. Then an encounter with an old woman introduces him to the identity of the master: an ancient sorcerer named Him Standing.
-
-
A wonderful story
- By Amazon Customer on 2023-09-30
Written by: Richard Wagamese
-
In My Own Moccasins
- A Memoir of Resilience
- Written by: Helen Knott
- Narrated by: Helen Knott
- Length: 8 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Helen Knott, a highly accomplished Indigenous woman, seems to have it all. But in her memoir, she offers a different perspective. In My Own Moccasins is an unflinching account of addiction, intergenerational trauma, and the wounds brought on by sexual violence. It is also the story of sisterhood, the power of ceremony, the love of family, and the possibility of redemption.
-
-
Heart-wretchingly Honest
- By Julia Mark on 2021-12-12
Written by: Helen Knott
-
Life in the City of Dirty Water
- A Memoir of Healing
- Written by: Clayton Thomas-Muller
- Narrated by: Clayton Thomas-Muller
- Length: 8 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
There have been many Clayton Thomas-Mullers: The child who played with toy planes as an escape from domestic and sexual abuse, enduring the intergenerational trauma of Canada's residential school system; the angry youngster who defended himself with fists and sharp wit against racism and violence, at school and on the streets of Winnipeg and small-town British Columbia; the tough teenager who, at 17, managed a drug house run by members of his family, and slipped in and out of juvie, operating in a world of violence and pain.
-
-
Both insightful snd hopeful
- By Debra Ransom on 2024-10-09
Written by: Clayton Thomas-Muller
-
Unbroken
- My Fight for Survival, Hope, and Justice for Indigenous Women and Girls
- Written by: Angela Sterritt
- Narrated by: Angela Sterritt
- Length: 9 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Unbroken is an extraordinary work of memoir and investigative journalism focusing on missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls, written by an award-winning Gitxsan journalist who survived life on the streets against all odds.
-
-
Informative and powerful
- By Robin Anderson on 2023-09-15
Written by: Angela Sterritt
-
Split Tooth
- Written by: Tanya Tagaq
- Narrated by: Tanya Tagaq
- Length: 5 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A girl grows up in Nunavut in the 1970s. She knows joy and friendship and parents' love. She knows boredom and listlessness and bullying. She knows the tedium of the everyday world and the raw, amoral power of the ice and sky, the seductive energy of the animal world. She knows the ravages of alcohol and violence at the hands of those she should be able to trust. She sees the spirits that surround her and the immense power that dwarfs all of us. When she becomes pregnant, she must navigate all this.
-
-
Beautiful, haunting and chilling. It's visceral.
- By JJNeeps on 2019-02-08
Written by: Tanya Tagaq
-
Unreconciled
- Family, Truth, and Indigenous Resistance
- Written by: Jesse Wente
- Narrated by: Jesse Wente
- Length: 6 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Part memoir and part manifesto, Unreconciled is a stirring call to arms to put truth over the flawed concept of reconciliation, and to build a new, respectful relationship between the nation of Canada and Indigenous peoples.
-
-
Brilliant Must Listen/Read for all Canadians
- By Cass on 2022-02-04
Written by: Jesse Wente
-
Him Standing
- Written by: Richard Wagamese
- Narrated by: Billy Merasty
- Length: 2 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Lucas Smoke learns the Ojibway art of carving from his grandfather, he proves to be a natural. He can literally make people come to life in wood. Then Lucas’s growing reputation attracts a mysterious stranger, who offers him a large advance to carve a spirit mask. This mask is to represent the master, but Lucas must find its face in his dreams. As his dreams become more and more disturbing, he feels himself changing. And the mask takes control of his life. Then an encounter with an old woman introduces him to the identity of the master: an ancient sorcerer named Him Standing.
-
-
A wonderful story
- By Amazon Customer on 2023-09-30
Written by: Richard Wagamese
-
Keeper'n Me
- Written by: Richard Wagamese
- Narrated by: Deneh'Cho Thompson, Sam Bob
- Length: 9 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Garnet Raven was three years old, he was taken from his home on an Ojibway Indian reserve and placed in a series of foster homes. Having reached his mid-teens, he escapes at the first available opportunity, only to find himself cast adrift on the streets of the big city. Having skirted the urban underbelly once too often by age 20, he finds himself thrown in jail. While there, he gets a surprise letter from his long-forgotten native family. The sudden communication from his past spurs him to return to the reserve following his release from jail.
-
-
Beautiful
- By Krow Fischer on 2019-04-23
Written by: Richard Wagamese
-
Restoring the Kinship Worldview
- Indigenous Voices Introduce 28 Precepts for Rebalancing Life on Planet Earth
- Written by: Wahinkpe Topa (Four Arrows), Darcia Narváez PhD
- Narrated by: Wahinkpe Topa (Four Arrows), Darcia Narváez PhD, Sage Ryan
- Length: 9 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Indigenous worldviews, and the knowledge they confer, are critical for human survival and the wellbeing of future generations. Editors Wahinkpe Topa (Four Arrows) and Darcia Narvaez present 28 powerful excerpted passages from Indigenous leaders, including Mourning Dove, Robin Wall Kimmerer, Winona LaDuke, and Xiuhtezcatl Martinez.
-
-
Antidote to colonial systems
- By Vanessa L. on 2024-05-25
Written by: Wahinkpe Topa (Four Arrows), and others
-
Red River Girl
- The Life and Death of Tina Fontaine
- Written by: Joanna Jolly
- Narrated by: Penelope Rawlins
- Length: 9 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On August 17, 2014, the body of 15-year old runaway Tina Fontaine was found in Winnipeg's Red River. It was wrapped in material and weighted down with rocks. Red River Girl is a gripping account of that murder investigation and the unusual police detective who pursued the killer with every legal means at his disposal. The audiobook, like the movie Spotlight, chronicles the behind-the-scenes stages of a lengthy and meticulously planned investigation. It reveals characters and social tensions that bring vivid life to a story that made national headlines.
-
-
Hard to Hear but Important
- By Trillium25 on 2020-07-14
Written by: Joanna Jolly
-
Life Stages and Native Women
- Memory, Teachings, and Story Medicine (Critical Studies in Native History, Book 15)
- Written by: Kim Anderson, Maria Campbell - foreword
- Narrated by: Marsha Knight, Maria Campbell
- Length: 9 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Life Stages and Native Women, Kim Anderson shares the teachings of fourteen elders from the Canadian prairies and Ontario to illustrate how different life stages were experienced by Metis, Cree, and Anishinaabe girls and women during the mid-twentieth century.
-
-
Heart warming and hopeful
- By Anonymous User on 2023-03-13
Written by: Kim Anderson, and others
-
Namwayut: We Are All One
- A Pathway to Reconciliation
- Written by: Chief Robert Joseph
- Narrated by: Dr. Evan Adams
- Length: 5 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Reconciliation belongs to everyone. In this profound book, Chief Robert Joseph, globally recognized peacebuilder and Hereditary Chief of the Gwawaenuk People, traces his journey from his childhood surviving residential school to his present-day role as a leader who inspires individual hope, collective change, and global transformation.
-
-
Absolutely loved it
- By Anne jackson on 2024-03-28
Written by: Chief Robert Joseph
-
Call Me Indian
- From the Trauma of Residential School to Becoming the NHL's First Treaty Indigenous Player
- Written by: Fred Sasakamoose, Bryan Trottier - foreword
- Narrated by: Wilton Littlechild
- Length: 10 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Fred Sasakamoose, torn from his home at the age of seven, endured the horrors of residential school for a decade before becoming one of 120 players in the most elite hockey league in the world. He has been heralded as the first Indigenous player with Treaty status in the NHL. After twelve games, he returned home. When people tell Sasakamoose's story, this is usually where they end it. Sasakamoose's groundbreaking memoir sheds piercing light on Canadian history and Indigenous politics, and follows this man's journey to reclaim pride in a heritage that had been used against him.
-
-
Eye Opening!
- By RL9 on 2021-12-01
Written by: Fred Sasakamoose, and others
-
Mamaskatch
- A Cree Coming of Age
- Written by: Darrel J. McLeod
- Narrated by: William C. Wikcemna Yamni ake Wanzi
- Length: 8 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Growing up in the tiny village of Smith, Alberta, Darrel J. McLeod was surrounded by his Cree family's history. In shifting and unpredictable stories, his mother, Bertha, shared narratives of their culture, their family, and the cruelty that she and her sisters endured in residential school. Bertha taught him to be fiercely proud of his heritage and to listen to the birds that would return to watch over and guide him at key junctures of his life. However, in a spiral of events, Darrel's mother turned wild and unstable, and their home life became chaotic.
-
-
Engaging Memoir
- By Trish on 2018-10-10
Written by: Darrel J. McLeod
-
Scars and Stars
- Written by: Jesse Thistle
- Narrated by: Jesse Thistle
- Length: 2 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Fans of Jesse Thistle’s extraordinary debut From the Ashes have already had the pleasure of knowing his poetry. In Scars and Stars, he digs deeper into the poetic form, which is especially close to his heart. Charting his own history, the stories of people from his past, the burning intensity of new and unexpected love, the complex legacies of family and community, and the beauty of parenthood, this collection is a profound mediation that expands his engagement with the ideas and experiences that have shaped his body of work thus far.
-
-
Lovely!
- By Jeanguy Turmelle on 2023-09-11
Written by: Jesse Thistle
-
Motorcycles & Sweetgrass
- Written by: Drew Hayden Taylor
- Narrated by: Drew Hayden Taylor
- Length: 10 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Otter Lake is a sleepy Anishnawbe community where little happens. Until the day a handsome stranger pulls up astride a 1953 Indian Chief motorcycle - and turns Otter Lake completely upside down. Maggie, the Reserve’s chief, is swept off her feet, but Virgil, her teenage son, is less than enchanted. Suspicious of the stranger’s intentions, he teams up with his uncle, Wayne - a master of aboriginal martial arts - to drive the stranger from the Reserve. And it turns out that the raccoons are willing to lend a hand.
-
-
Great book
- By Tanya on 2023-11-15
Written by: Drew Hayden Taylor
-
The Serviceberry
- Written by: Robin Wall Kimmerer
- Narrated by: Robin Wall Kimmerer
- Length: 1 hr and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As Indigenous scientist and author of Braiding Sweetgrass Robin Wall Kimmerer harvests serviceberries alongside the birds, she considers the ethic of reciprocity that lies at the heart of the gift economy. How, she asks, can we learn from Indigenous wisdom and the plant world to reimagine what we value most? Our economy is rooted in scarcity, competition, and the hoarding of resources, and we have surrendered our values to a system that actively harms what we love. Meanwhile, the serviceberry’s relationship with the natural world is an embodiment of reciprocity.
-
-
An excellent read!
- By Gardener Phyl on 2024-11-19
Written by: Robin Wall Kimmerer
-
Pet
- Written by: Akwaeke Emezi
- Narrated by: Christopher Myers
- Length: 5 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
There are no monsters anymore, or so the children in the city of Lucille are taught. Jam and her best friend, Redemption, have grown up with this lesson all their life. But when Jam meets Pet, a creature made of horns and colors and claws, who emerges from one of her mother's paintings and a drop of Jam's blood, she must reconsider what she's been told. Pet has come to hunt a monster, and the shadow of something grim lurks in Redemption's house. Jam must fight not only to protect her best friend, but also to uncover the truth.
-
-
Amazing world
- By sonia on 2021-05-04
Written by: Akwaeke Emezi
-
Boy Swallows Universe
- A Novel
- Written by: Trent Dalton
- Narrated by: Stig Wemyss
- Length: 16 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Eli Bell’s life is complicated. His father is lost, his mother is in jail, and his stepdad is a heroin dealer. The most steadfast adult in Eli’s life is Slim - a notorious felon and national record holder for successful prison escapes - who watches over Eli and August, his silent genius of an older brother. Exiled far from the rest of the world in Darra, this 12-year-old boy with an old soul and an adult mind is trying to follow his heart, learn what it takes to be a good man, and train for a glamorous career in journalism. But life insists on throwing obstacles in Eli’s path.
-
-
tremendous
- By Northern AB Sunshine on 2024-04-17
Written by: Trent Dalton
What the critics say
"Heart Berries by Terese Mailhot is an astounding memoir in essays. Here, is a wound. Here is need, naked and unapologetic. Here is a mountain woman, towering in words great and small. She writes of motherhood, loss, absence, want, suffering, love, mental illness, betrayal and survival. She does this without blinking but to say she is fearless would be to miss the point. These essays are too intimate, too absorbing, too beautifully written, but never ever too much. What Mailhot has accomplished in this exquisite book is brilliance both raw and refined, testament." (Roxane Gay)
"I am quietly reveling in the profundity of Mailhot’s deliberate transgression in Heart Berries and its perfect results. I love her suspicion of words. I have always been terrified and in awe of the power of words - but Mailhot does not let them silence her in Heart Berries. She finds the purest way to say what she needs to say.... [T]he writing is so good it’s hard not to temporarily be distracted from the content or narrative by its brilliance.... Perhaps, because this author so generously allows us to be her witness, we are somehow able to see ourselves more clearly and become better witnesses to ourselves." (Emma Watson, official March/April selection for Our Shared Shelf)
"Heart Berries is a sledgehammer...a mixture of vulnerability and rage, sexual yearning and artistic ambition, swagger and self-mockery.... Her experiments with structure and language...are in the service of trying to find new ways to think about the past, trauma, repetition and reconciliation, which might be a way of saying a new model for the memoir." (The New York Times)
Related Collections
What listeners say about Heart Berries
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Claudia
- 2019-05-01
Gorgeously brutal
Untangling in a way I didn't know I was craving. Words are limited to express how I stopped in my tracks a few sentences in, witnessing how even the shortest sentences pack the most long-lasting punches. The narration is spectacular. Raw, strong yet in a way that pulls you in the most vulnerable moments of a woman's life. A match made in heaven.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
- Amazon Customer
- 2019-02-05
Good read
Raw, perhaps reminiscent of Margaret Lawrence's, Pique - in The Diviners. Really enjoyed this book.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- RL
- 2023-07-31
Absolutely genuine
Listening to this, I could see and feel my own life experiences. It definitely made me open my eyes to the healing work necessary for myself and my adult children. Beautifully, honest and real. An excellent listen.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Frances Jones
- 2019-08-04
Boring and self indulgent
Hmm... let’s see ... how can I tell my story is the most obtuse monotonous boring way possible. Oh I know, I will write this book.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!