Books › The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store
The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store
614 pages
A big-hearted, polyphonic tapestry of marginalized lives intertwining to protect their own against the crushing weight of prejudice.
What it feels like
Reading this novel feels like pulling up a chair in a bustling, vibrant neighborhood where everyone has a story and every story matters. The narrative takes a meandering, deeply affectionate path, taking its time to introduce a sprawling cast of Jewish immigrants and Black residents living on the margins of a mid-century Pennsylvania town. The prose is exuberant and musical, laced with wry humor and profound empathy, wrapping the reader in a bittersweet but ultimately triumphant atmosphere. It is a book that asks you to settle in and trust the detours, building slowly toward a deeply moving convergence. It will delight fans of big-hearted, polyphonic historical fiction who crave rich character studies and stories about the sustaining, miraculous power of community solidarity.
- Mood
- vibrant
- bittersweet
- communal
- nostalgic
- Tone
- warm
- wry
- empathetic
- compassionate
- Pace
- meandering
- Themes
- solidarity across margins · found family · systemic injustice · power of community · resilience
- The writing
- Exuberant, musical, and richly detailed, blending folksy humor with profound moral clarity.
- The arc
- Begins with a sprawling, curious exploration of a fractured neighborhood and coalesces into a deeply moving, triumphant testament to collective action.
- Who it's for
- Readers who love big-hearted, polyphonic historical fiction that prioritizes character quirks and community dynamics over a fast-paced plot.
Content notes
- racism
- antisemitism
- ableism
- institutional abuse
- child endangerment
About the book
In 1972, when workers in Pottstown, Pennsylvania, were digging the foundations for a new development, the last thing they expected to find was a skeleton at the bottom of a well. Who the skeleton was and how it got there were two of the long-held secrets kept by the residents of Chicken Hill, the dilapidated neighbourhood where immigrant Jews and African Americans lived side by side and shared ambitions and sorrows.
As these characters' stories overlap and deepen, it becomes clear how much the people who live on the margins struggle and what they must do to survive. When the truth is finally revealed about what happened on Chicken Hill and the part the town's white establishment played in it, McBride shows us that even in dark times, it is love and community-heaven and earth-that sustain us.
Description from Open Library.
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