The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James McBride

The saga of a small town in Pennsylvania where Eastern European Jews and Black Americans lived and worked together to prosper and fight back against discrimination as much as they could. The Heaven & Earth grocery store is owned by a generous Jewish woman named Chona and her enterprising husband Moshe. Moshe saw opportunity in the businesses he ran such as the music hall and Chona saw opportunity to help others at the store. Together with their neighbors they fought alongside each other against the evils of the world - be it the white town a few miles away who wanted distance, the Klan or evil in the form of someone they should have been able to trust. When Chona, Moshe and their friends Nate and Addie decide to help hide a young deaf and dumb boy it brings trouble to their doorstep that will change their lives forever. James McBride has a gift for warm and witty dialogue spiced with scenes that disgust and delight us in their humanity. This is a story that takes as long to tell as it should and puts him in the company of America's great storytellers. For readers of the character rich stories of Amor Towles, Ann Patchett and Jamie Ford and THE GOLEM AND THE JINNI. ​  4 1/2 stars