Join our monthly book club for an engaging discussion of our latest selection Heaven & Earth Grocery Store, by James McBride.
Join our monthly book club for an engaging discussion of our latest selection, Heaven & Earth Grocery Store, by James McBride .
New members are always welcome. 12 Copies of Heaven & Earth Grocery Store, by James McBride will be available for check out from the Montrose Library service desk one month prior to the book club meeting date. Please stop by the Montrose Library, email montroselibrary@glendaleca.gov, or call 818-548-2048 to reserve one of the 12 copies. If we run out of copies, you'd like to pick up a copy at another branch, or you prefer a different book format, you may request a copy here: https://glac.bibliocommons.com/v2/record/S185C1985189.
Book Description: 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 neighborhood where immigrant Jews and African Americans lived side by side and shared ambitions and sorrows. Chicken Hill was where Moshe and Chona Ludlow lived when Moshe integrated his theater and where Chona ran the Heaven & Earth Grocery Store. When the state came looking for a deaf boy to institutionalize him, it was Chona and Nate Timblin, the Black janitor at Moshe’s theater and the unofficial leader of the Black community on Chicken Hill, who worked together to keep the boy safe.
As these characters’ stories overlap and deepen, it becomes clear how much the people who live on the margins of white, Christian America 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.
Parking Information: Library parking is available onsite. Parking entrance is behind the Fire Station and Library buildings on Sunset Ave. Visitors receive 3-hour free parking and 15 minutes drop off parking is available in front of the Library. Accessible parking and wheelchair ramp is available in the parking lot. For additional information about this event, please contact Montrose Library at 818-548-2048 or send us an email at LibraryInfo@GlendaleCA.gov
We welcome persons with disabilities to participate in all our programs and events. For accommodations requests, please email LibraryInfo@GlendaleCA.gov
The Montrose Library, located on the east end of the Montrose Shopping Park, is a classic neighborhood branch library with materials and activities for adults, teens and children. Programs include adult activity based social clubs, teen volunteer programs and children's storytimes. The 1961 building offers a lot of natural light and includes a quiet room in the adult fiction area.
