The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store: A Novel

The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store is one of those books that stays with you long after you close it. James McBride tells a sweeping, layered story about community, loyalty, and the people society often tries to overlook. Set in the 1930s in Pottstown, Pennsylvania, the novel brings to life Chicken Hill — a neighborhood where Black folks, Jewish immigrants, poor white residents, and people with disabilities live together not by choice, but by necessity. And yet, in that unlikely mix, something beautiful forms. At the center is the Heaven & Earth Grocery Store, run by Chona — physically fragile, morally fierce, and deeply committed to caring for her neighbors. Her store becomes the heart of Chicken Hill: a sanctuary, a gathering place, and a reminder that everyday acts of kindness can hold a community together. McBride blends mystery, humor, grief, and humanity as the story slowly reveals the truth behind a body discovered in a well decades later. Without spoiling too much, the heart of the novel revolves around a child named Dodo and the sacrifices people are willing to make to protect him. It’s a story about how far love can stretch, and what it costs when the world is built to crush the vulnerable. What struck me most was the reminder of who we are at our best. This book reminded me of the power of community and the ways we care for each other — sometimes loudly, sometimes quietly, sometimes imperfectly, but always with intention. It wasn’t always an easy read, but it was a meaningful one. I appreciated the reminder that even in hard times, people still show up for one another. We really do care, and we really do look out for each other. McBride’s themes of racism, anti-Semitism, disability, and power are powerful, but it’s the humanity that shines brightest. This book felt like both a warning and a blessing — a hard truth wrapped in deep love.

Although everyone loves it when the author developes his characters, 40 or something in this book, for me it was too much development and not enough story line to solve the mystery!

Long live Monkey Pants.

This was a great story but for me a lot of it was dragged out. But overall a good read

thenextgoodbook.com

What’s it about?

This novel opens in 1972 in Pottstown, Pennsylvania when construction workers discover an old skeleton that must have been buried long ago. The skeleton is found in a neighborhood that used to be called Chicken Hill. A neighborhood where newly immigrated Jews and African Americans lived side by side. This story mainly takes place 40 years earlier when Moshe and Chona Ludlow lived in Chicken Hill and owned the Heaven and Earth Grocery Store. Slowly the story unfolds and we understand just who that skeleton belongs to and how it ended up there.

What did it make me think about?

How hard it is to live in the margins.

Should I read it?

I have such respect and admiration for James McBride’s talent- and that was before I read his latest book. This book was my absolute favorite James McBride story! I just loved the characters he created in this one. Moshe, Chona, Nate, Addie, Dodo, Monkey Boy- and so many other characters just jumped off the page for me. Even the characters with smaller roles in the story were so well-drawn. This is a must read for 2023! And when you turn the last page- read the acknowledgments for a whole new level of admiration. Don’t miss this one!

Quote-

“Chona had never been one to play by the rules of American society. She did not experience the world as most people did. To her, the world was not a china closet where you admire this and don’t touch that. Rather, she saw it as a place where every act of living was a chance for tikkum olum, to improve the world. The tiny woman with the bad foot was all soul. “