“Light is only possible through dialogue between cultures, not through rejection of one or the other.”
One of the best historical fiction novels from 2023, The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store is a bestseller by James McBride. The story is set in Pottstown, Pennsylvania, and centres around the poor community nestled within Chicken Hill, a neighbourhood where Moshe and Chona Ludlow ran the Heaven & Grocery Store. When the state comes calling for a local Black deaf child, the residents of Chicken Hill, inspired by the kindness shown by Chona, band together to keep the boy from harm. Fast forward to when a skeleton is discovered on the grounds of a new housing development, the mystery behind its fate is revealed. A beautifully delivered commentary on community, love, kindness and the bigotry, hypocrisies and struggles those on the fringes of white Christian America endure, join us today at What We Reading for the best books like The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store if you loved McBride’s work!
The Book Of Lost Friends – Lisa Wingate
First up on our list of books like The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store is Lisa Wingate’s 2020 historical fiction tale, The Book of Lost Friends. Beginning in Louisana in 1875 in the tumultuous aftermath of Reconstruction, three young women embark as begrudging companions on a dangerous quest. Lavinia is a pampered heir to a now-destitute plantation. Juneau Jane is her illegitimate free-born Creole half-sister. Hannie is Lavinia’s former slave. Each of the women carries their own private wounds as they make their way toward Texas on roads rifer with ruthless vigilantes and soldiers still fighting a war lost a decade ago.
Fast-forward to Louisana in 1987. First-year teacher Benedetta Silva arrives in the tiny town of Augustine along the Mississippi River. The town appears suspicious of her new ideas, and she finds herself shocked by her students’ impoverished lives. Nevertheless, among the ancient oaks and ramshackle former plantation homes lies the history of three women and a hidden book that could change everything.
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An American Marriage – Tayari Jones
Newlyweds Celestial and Roy are both shining examples of the American Dream and the New South. However, as they settle into their new lives together, they are both upended by circumstances that neither of them could have foreseen. Roy is arrested and sentenced to twelve years in prison for a crime that Celestial knows he couldn’t have possibly committed.
Whilst she is fiercely independent, Celestial finds herself taking comfort in Andre, her childhood friend and the best man at her wedding. As Roy’s time in prison passes, she is unable to hold on to the love that has been her centre for the past five years. Yet, after his conviction is suddenly overturned, Roy returns to Atlanta after five years, eager to resume their life together. Similar to The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store, Tayari Jones’ An American Marriage is a stirring look at the hearts and minds of three individuals who are bound and separated by forces beyond their control.
A Tree Grows In Brooklyn – Betty Smith
One of the best books like The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store for those readers looking for more of a classic, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn is a coming-of-age tale set at the turn of the twentieth century. The story follows Francie Nolan, a young, sensitive and idealistic young girl, and her bittersweet formative years in the slums of Williamsburg.
Effortlessly jumping from overwhelming, heartbreaking to uplifting, the daily experiences of Francie and the Nolans make for an unforgettable portrait of family connectedness that brilliantly captures a unique time and place in American history.
These Ghosts Are Family – Maisy Card
Stanford Solomon has a shocking, thirty-year-old secret: he is actually Abel Paisley, a man who faked his death and stole the identity of his best friend. Now, with his own life drawing to an end, he is about to meet his firstborn daughter, Irene, a home aide who has unknowingly arrived for her first day at work to tend to the father she believed was dead.
Maisy Card’s These Ghosts Are Family tells the story of the Paisley family and the consequences of Abel’s fateful decisions. From colonial Jamaica to Harlem in the present-day, it is the perfect follow-up to The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store for any readers looking for another tale of characters wrestling with finding their identity, and a compelling look at slavery, migration, lost love and regret.
A Place For Us – Fatima Farheen Mirza
Fatima Farheen Mirza’s A Place for Us unveils the lives of an Indian-American Muslim family, congregating together to celebrate the wedding of the eldest daughter, Hadia. On this momentous day, Amar, the youngest of the siblings, reunites with his family for the first time in three years. Rafiq and Layla are forced to grapple with the choices and betrayals that led to their son becoming estranged.
Like with The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store, A Place for Us is a tale that spans decades and presents the family’s complicated past through the lens of each of its members. As siblings Hadia, Huda and Amar struggle to carve a life out for themselves, they are forced to reconcile with their present culture and their parent’s faith and walk the delicate tightrope between the old world and the new, learning along the way how the smallest of actions can lead to the most profound betrayals.
The Secret Lives Of Church Ladies – Deesha Philyaw
The Secret Lives of Church Ladies is a collection of powerful short stories that explore the raw and intimate places where Black women and girls dare to follow their desires and secure a momentary pause from being good. Featuring nine different tales in all, Deesha Philyaw’s book follows four generations caught between who they want to be in the world, the double standards of the church as well as their own needs and passions.
With their secret longings, intense new loves and passionate forbidden affairs, The Secret Lives of Church Ladies is perfect for any readers who loved The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store and who are looking for another collection of stories about the lives, complexities and desires of Black women.
Homegoing – Yaa Gyasi
Two half-sisters, Effia and Esi, are born into two very different villages in eighteenth-century Ghana. Effia is married off to an Englishman where she lives in comfort within the walls of Cape Coast Castle. Unbeknownst to her, Esi is imprisoned beneath the castle’s dungeons, eventually sold off and shipped to America where her children and grandchildren will be raised in slavery. From the battlegrounds of Ghana, the plantations of the South, the coal mines of Pratt City to the dope houses and jazz clubs of Harlem and through to the present day, Yaa Gyasi’ Homegoing is the sweeping history of these two sisters.
As each generation passes to the next, Gyasi’s stunning debut novel offers a similar look to The Heaven and Grocery Store about how the fate of individuals is so often out of their control thanks to the historical forces of their day.
The Twelve Tribes Of Hattie – Ayana Mathis
In 1923, fifteen-year-old Hattie Shepherd flees Georgia and settles in Philadelphia, hoping for a chance at a better life. Instead, she marries a man who brings her nothing but disappointment. She is forced to watch as her two firstborn twins succumb to an illness that mere pennies could have prevented. Hattie gives birth to nine more children, vowing to raise them with all the preparation they need to survive in a world that promises not to care for nor love them.
The Twelve Tribes of Hattie by Ayana Mathias is a collection of twelve narratives that tell the story of a mother’s monumental courage and the journey of a nation. Like The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store, it is a beautiful and devastating tale about striving in the face of adversity and a testament to the resilience of the human spirit.
Check Out The Best Historical Fiction Books From 2023
Part-time reader, part-time rambler, and full-time Horror enthusiast, James has been writing for What We Reading since 2022. His earliest reading memories involved Historical Fiction, Fantasy and Horror tales, which he has continued to take with him to this day. James’ favourite books include The Last (Hanna Jameson), The Troop (Nick Cutter) and Chasing The Boogeyman (Richard Chizmar).
