Mailhot’s telling of her trauma through this book is raw and real, but the realness spoken throughout this book and shows just how a person’s mental state and upbringing can affect so many aspects of a person’s life, including how their story can be shared. Heart Berries is a short book in length, but is in no way short in story telling it is gripping, captivating and heart breaking all at the same time. Heart Berries has a fragmented structure, but that structure helped tell the story, Mailhot’s story. Heart Berries is raw, intimate, and full of emotion. Heart Berries, published by Penguin Random House Canada. The book explores Mailhot’s family connections, the impact of her family members had on her, and it follows her relationship with another writer, Casey. Heart Berries tells Mailhot’s struggles with her mental health, growing up with trauma, and learning how to heal from that trauma once she began to realize her traumas. While reading Heart Berries, the reader learns that Mailhot began writing Heart Berries after committing herself to a mental institution after she had a breakdown. Terese Mailhot’s debut book, Heart Berries is a series of essays that tells the story of Mailhot’s experiences while growing up on Seabird Island Reservation in British Columbia. Image: Heart Berries, alternate cover design.

Terese marie mailhot books