The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store has all the ingredients for a great historical novel: a tight-knit community in Pottstown, Pennsylvania, a mysterious skeleton found in a well, and 1930s setting rich with cultural and racial tensions. The story promises to explore themes of racism, love, sacrifice, and the power of community as we go back in time to Chicken Hill, a neighborhood where Jewish immigrants and African Americans live side by side.
At the heart of the novel is the Heaven & Earth Grocery Store, run by Moshe Ludlow and his wife, Chona. Her determination to protect Dodo, a deaf Black boy, from a cruel institution sets off a series of events that challenge the community’s loyalties and uncover buried secrets. It sounds like a gripping premise, but the execution falls flat.
Despite the book’s beautiful writing, I found it overly long and, frankly, disconnected. The narrative meanders through too many characters and subplots that ultimately lead nowhere. The constant jumping between timelines and perspectives made it difficult to keep track of the sprawling cast, and I quickly grew tired of trying.
I wanted to love this book, but finishing it felt like a chore. It begins with an interesting hook, but the slow pace and lack of direction left me bored and disappointed. Perhaps it’s just a matter of timing, but for now, this one didn’t work for me. 2 stars.
** Thanks to the publisher for a comp of this title. The opinions are my own.