Name: The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store
ISBN: 9780593422946

The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store

In 1972, when workers in Pottstown, Pennsylvania, were digging the foundations for a new development, the last thing they expected to find was a skeleton at the bottom of a well. Who the skeleton was and how it got there were two of the long-held secrets kept by the residents of Chicken Hill, the dilapidated neighbourhood where immigrant Jews and African Americans lived side by side and shared ambitions and sorrows. As these characters' stories overlap and deepen, it becomes clear how much the people who live on the margins struggle and what they must do to survive. When the truth is finally revealed about what happened on Chicken Hill and the part the town's white establishment played in it, McBride shows us that even in dark times, it is love and community-heaven and earth-that sustain us.

What Hacker News says

garciasnOct 2026

It always blows my mind that Lonesome Dove is recommended across so many different communities, especially nerd-related ones like HN. I read ~100 books a year on average and it continues to top my all time favorites list; but, in all honesty, I cannot believe it appeals to the wide audience it does due to its content.

That said, here are some of my all time favorites (no particular order):

01. Pillars of the Earth (Ken Follett)

02. Lonesome Dove (Larry McMurtry)

03. A Painted House (John Grisham)

04. A Gentleman in Moscow (Amor Towles)

05. The Great Alone (Kristin Hannah)

06. All the Light We Cannot See (Anthony Doerr)

07. Annihilation (Jeff VanderMeer)

08. The First Law Trilogy (Joe Abercrombie)

* this encompasses three long books; however, I consider them one long epic novel

09. Mailman (Stephen Starring Grant)

10. Demon Copperhead (Barbara Kingsolver)