The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store
Chicken Hill, Pottstown, Pennsylvania. The 1930s. The world of Moshe and Chona Ludlow. Moshe is a Jewish immigrant, a theater owner and entrepreneur. Chona is also Jewish, but born in America, and insists on staying in Chicken Hill, running the Heaven & Earth Grocery Store at a loss, because supporting the local community means more to her than making money. In Chicken Hill, Jews and African Americans are neighbors and friends, and so naturally Chona agrees to hide a young deaf Black orphan boy, who the authorities want to send to the infamous Pennhurst School for the Feeble Minded. It’s a decision with deadly consequences.
This is a novel with a large cast of deeply realized characters, and McBride understands that no one sees themselves as the villain in their story/life. So there’s Doc Roberts, who marches as a White Knight and believes “their parades weren’t hurting anybody. They were a celebration of the real America,” but there’s also Monkey Pants, a brave boy with cerebral palsy; Nate, determined to keep his inner darkness at bay; and of course Chona, whose humanity warms all who know her.
The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store rewards the patient reader with a memorable portrait of human resilience and kindness that shines in an ugly world. McBride ably demonstrates the power of historical fiction in its ability to illuminate lives, ideas and cultures, and offer lessons on who we are today by revisiting our past ways. A timely and moving read.
