Barnes &Noble has finally announced their book of the year title. This year, it’s The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James McBride. Released this year, the book dates back to the 1920s and 30s and interprets the story of Black and Jewish residents of Chicken Hill, the neighbourhood of Pottstown, Pennsylvania.
Back in 1972, workers in Pottstown discovered a skeleton inside the well. However, it was unknown as to whose skeleton it was and how it got there. The novel unfolds the struggles of people living on the border and what they do to survive.
Eventually, the secret to the skeleton gets revealed along with the role of the white establishment in the same. As per Good Reads, McBride beautifully interprets the book as to how, even in dark times, it’s love and community that sustains us.
The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store has bagged multiple awards besides the Barnes & Noble Book of the Year. This includes Amazon Book of the Year and Kirkus Prize for Fiction.
Besides that, Barnes & Noble has also announced their Author of the Year. This year, the title has been awarded to David Grann, who is known for novels like Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI, The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder and The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon.
Barnes & Noble mentioned in their announcement how the award is a way to celebrate “his impressive array of achievements that began in 2009 with The Lost City of Z and extended into 2023 with The Wager and the film adaptation of Killers of the Flower Moon.” They further mentioned his writing style, the potential to mix thriller-like stakes and riveting history, and the fact that all this “solidifies him as one of the literary world’s essential nonfiction voices.”
Navkiran Dhaliwal is a seasoned content writer with 10+ years of experience. When she's not writing, she can be found cooking up a storm or spending time with her dog, Rain.