Barnes & Noble has selected James McBride’s The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store as its Book of the Year.
McBride’s novel, published in August by Riverhead, tells the story of a Jewish and Black neighborhood in 1930s Pottstown, Pennsylvania. The book was an instant New York Times bestseller and won this year’s Kirkus Prize for fiction; the award jurors called it “a boisterous hymn to community, mercy, and karmic justice” and “clear-eyed about prejudice yet full of hope for the power of community.”
“Everyone who reads The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store becomes a passionate advocate for the book,” Barnes & Noble CEO James Daunt said in a statement. “You just want others to share in the sheer pleasure it gives.”
McBride said, “I would have never dreamed a book about a simple grocery store would make this kind of difference in the world. But love makes everything possible. Books make noise, but love moves the world. It is the greatest story plot imaginable. It lets us heal the world one book at a time.”
For the first time, Barnes & Noble also announced an Author of the Year: David Grann, whose books include Killers of the Flower Moon and The Wager.
The Book of the Year honor is voted on by Barnes & Noble’s booksellers. Previous winners include World of Wonders: In Praise of Fireflies, Whale Sharks, and Other Astonishments by Aimee Nezhukumatathil and Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus.
Michael Schaub is a contributing writer.
