The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store

A Novel

By: James McBride

Narrated by: Dominic Hoffman

THE RUNAWAY NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK • A NEW YORK TIMES READERS PICK: 100 BEST BOOKS OF THE 21ST CENTURY

WINNER OF THE 2024 LIBRARY OF CONGRESS PRIZE FOR AMERICAN FICTION

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

Heaven again

Excellent book….definitely worth listening to a very interesting book! Spend enjoyable hours listening to something special.

Incredible writing, incredible narration

This book will stay with me. Beautiful! Dominic Hoffman does a superb job of voicing each of the characters. I loved listening to him. I ended up buying the book in hardcover so I can always remember it.

unity in all its many shapes and form, selflessness, karma, and sacrifice

I absolutely loved every second of this audiobook, the story is both humbling and motivational. It was read perfectly. It's filled with food for thought and life lessons.

So much humanity

Touching and troubling, the clash of cultures tells the story of humans. Beautifully told. Excellently read.

Monkey pants

Slow development of the characters, but it was worth it if you persevered. Each person told the story, and within the lives of each of those characters there was a real history, and that made the story very interesting and multifaceted. The heroes were unlikely.

Very unique story!

The narration was good! The book was good! I didn’t give it five stars because it seemed at times the author had to add a lot of detail as he made sure to himself the solution would work.

The dramatic ending tying all the different cultures and characters together.

This book lifts McBride to higher literary heights!! Masterful Storytelling!! Wonderful characters and cultural content and references.

Extraordinary and powerful

One of the tenderest, best written novels i ever read. Full of hard truths and harder times. McBride is a masterful storyteller and creator of unforgettable characters. A must read

The voice was perfect for this book.

Entertaining story with wonderful voice reading. The voice added a lot to help understand story and keep traxk of characters.

great book

the reader was excellent, made me feel the story. the story was such a a wonderful look into Pottstown and the people.