The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store

In 1972 in Pottstown, Pennsylvania, workers digging foundations for a new development find a skeleton at the bottom of a well. Who it was and how it got there are secrets held by the people of Chicken Hill, a run-down neighbourhood where immigrant Jews and African Americans lived side by side. Their stories overlap and deepen, showing how hard life is for people on the margins and what they must do to survive. When the truth comes out, it also shows the part the town's white establishment played. Love and community hold people up.

Why You Should Read?

• Discover who the skeleton in the well was and how it came to be there.
• Explore life in Chicken Hill, where immigrant Jews and African Americans shared ambitions and sorrows.
• Understand what people living on the margins struggle with and what they must do to survive.
• Learn what part the town's white establishment played in what happened on Chicken Hill.

About the Author

James McBride is a writer and musician from America, born on September 11, 1957. In 2013 his novel The Good Lord Bird won the National Book Award for Fiction.