James McBride once again brings to the reader an exquisite tale mixing raw reality with life-giving hope and love. Set in the 1920’s and 30’s in eastern United States, it is a time of Jewish immigration from Europe and the on-going black migration from the South toward the North. Music of Big Band Swing, Jazz, the Blues, and the Cuban-Afro touch is moving through dance theaters, Jim Crow laws are eagerly lived out, and those that consider themselves the “real Americans” are busily establishing their appropriate ancestral ties with the use of tall tales and imagination.

We meet Moshe and Chona, a young Jewish couple who live alongside their Black and Jewish neighbors on Chicken Hill, an area a stone’s throw from the small town of Pottstown, Pennsylvania. Moshe runs the town’s dance theater while Chona is proprietor of The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store, a small neighborhood shop on The Hill. With many of their Jewish neighbors beginning to move down the hill into town to become part of “America”, this couple chooses to stay and serve their Chicken Hill community.

As the novel unfolds, the lives of the people of this hill community entwine in life changing ways, especially when Dodo comes to live with Moshe and Chona. The bright young black boy is deaf and in need of hiding so as not to be sent off to Pennhurst, the nearby state institution for all who don’t fit properly into society. As the neighbors come together to protect Dodo, the intensifying drama is immersed throughout in racial realities, cultural challenges, clever humor, the beauty of friendship, and the power of love.

I laughed and cried throughout this wonderful story, deeply appreciating the author’s ability to weave the wretchedness of humanity with man’s ability to rise up and sacrificially love in life-giving ways. Hope shines through despite racial inequality, loss, grief, and human ugliness. It was a vivid reminder for me of the importance of community. When people come together, accepting one another and valuing each person for their unique contributions, good things happen.

Mary Charnley, July 2025

Recent Posts