The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store

A Novel

By: James McBride

Narrated by: Dominic Hoffman

Length: 12 hrs and 21 mins

Publisher's summary

THE RUNAWAY NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK

FROM ONE OF TIME MAGAZINE'S 100 MOST INFLUENTIAL PEOPLE OF 2024

NAMED A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR BY NPR/FRESH AIR, WASHINGTON POST, THE NEW YORKER, AND TIME MAGAZINE

ONE OF BARACK OBAMA'S FAVORITE BOOKS OF 2023

“A murder mystery locked inside a Great American Novel . . . Charming, smart, heart-blistering, and heart-healing.”—Danez Smith, The New York Times Book Review

“We all need—we all deserve—this vibrant, love-affirming novel that bounds over any difference that claims to separate us.”—Ron Charles, The Washington Post

From James McBride, author of the bestselling Oprah’s Book Club pick Deacon King Kong and the National Book Award-winning The Good Lord Bird, a novel about small-town secrets and the people who keep them

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 neighborhood where immigrant Jews and African Americans lived side by side and shared ambitions and sorrows. Chicken Hill was where Moshe and Chona Ludlow lived when Moshe integrated his theater and where Chona ran the Heaven & Earth Grocery Store. When the state came looking for a deaf boy to institutionalize him, it was Chona and Nate Timblin, the Black janitor at Moshe’s theater and the unofficial leader of the Black community on Chicken Hill, who worked together to keep the boy safe.

As these characters’ stories overlap and deepen, it becomes clear how much the people who live on the margins of white, Christian America 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.

Bringing his masterly storytelling skills and his deep faith in humanity to The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store, James McBride has written a novel as compassionate as Deacon King Kong and as inventive as The Good Lord Bird.

©2023 James McBride (P)2023 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

“I keep thinking every time I read one of his books, ‘That’s his best book.’ No. THIS is his best book.”—Ann Patchett

“This is one of those novels that becomes a part of you. It’s a great book. Every character is rich; every detail is rich. I can’t recommend this one highly enough. He’s a great author and I think this is his best work.”—Harlan Coben

“He writes about deep American wounds with love, rage, and a sense of wit that flies like a falcon in large leaping circles, riding the invisible winds of history.”—Ethan Hawke

Read or listen to this book!

I loved everything about this book. The narrator was wonderful, the story was intriguing and compelling, the themes were important, the writing superb! It is humorous and poignant and the unlikely seems so realistic. I think it's my book of the year.

You must read or listen to this book!

Unlike many books, this one grabbed my attention from the very first page. I laughed and I cried, sometimes at the same time. I loved the characters (except for the rotten ones) and I loved getting to know them.

The reader was remarkably talented in both pacing and tone, quietly helping each character come to life. Bravo to author and actor on an outstanding partnership.

Great story

One again James McBride takes you into a deep, meaningful experience. Narration was excellent. Characters come to life. I highly recommend this book.

Too many characters, subplots

Too many characters and subplots. I liked McBride’s earlier works better although this opened up to me a period of time when Jewish immigrants and poor blacks worked together in PA in the 1920’s-30’s.

Write another book soon. very soon I hope.

I could not stop reading your book. Read early in the morning..and again a little past midnight.
Every page was important to read.Every character had purpose. Thank you.
Well done...

A great story, narrated perfectly

You know the town that has survived “progress.” Not much of it is left that would make a history page on Wikipedia.
Then a great writer like James McBride memorialized its residents and families. Dominic Hoffman could narrate something even I wrote into a good book. He made this one great. I would say some more, but I stayed up really late because I couldn’t put it down and now I can go to sleep.

Pottstown Jewish and black communities in Struggle

McBride creates memorable characters to love. The story’s plot is anchored in the diverse communities of 1930s Chicken Hill , Pottstown PA. Jews from many backgrounds in Europe and Blacks from two different ways of living in the US.
Justice is served no thanks to most of the people of the town. exciting plot.

May be my book of the year

Great building, the twist and tangle of the plot, the development of the characters, all magnificent. If Hollywood could leave it as is it was be amazing in screen!

Excellent work, Mr narrator!

Great listen, strong community, mix of humanity.

Because the tone of the book is somewhat matter-of-fact about beautiful and painful events, I find myself surprised at how I felt more gripped by the story as the book progressed. Descriptions are vivid enough that I have a felt sense of images of people and places. I recommend.

Wonderful to listen to.

This was such a wonderful book giving diverse & fascinating people, their interactions, passions, challenges. I felt as though I knew so many characters - cared about, liked & disliked some. It made me laugh out loud & mourn, it is a gem.