Heaven & Earth Grocery Store

James McBride

“…and polished it off by being niece to Chulo Davis, the legendary jazz drummer who left Chicken Hill to play with the famous Harlem Hamfats in Chicago before he was shot dead over a bowl of butter beans.” p. 93

“ ‘I hear your aunt Clemy’s brining her cheese cookies to the repast after church tomorrow.’

‘She calls ‘em cheese straws,’

‘I don’t care if she calls ‘em George Washington. If she brings ‘em will you remember your friend?’ p. 86

“Bernice taught Chona how to make thick wool quilts that kept the cold out and how to grow parsley and greens and all manner vegetables in her backyard.” p.104

“She glanced about at the jook joint’s yard, the junk, the high weeds, the piled wood, the car carcasses, the tattered stand where he made hamburgers and sold them every afternoon, the sigh on the battered front door that read ‘Fatty’s Hook. Caution. Fun Inside.’” p. 286

“Sweet potato pie was the bait. Everybody on the Hill knew Paper cooked it like no tomorrow.” p. 294

“He attributed her improvement to the arrival of Malachi, who insisted on dropping by the theater every day to deliver a loaf of his challah for Moshe to carry home to his wife.” p. 59

“But the hometown he returned to after medical school, where decent white people knew each other by name and attended the same Presbyterian church and ate ice cream at Bristol Ice House after service, had become a town of immigrants.” p. 122

“Next, everyone put down their instruments and breakfast was served with German beer and sausages because the Germans had to be thrown in there somewhere, since they owned practically everything in town.” p. 248