Amazon named James McBride’s The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store the best book of 2023, two days after Barnes & Noble gave the novel the same honor.
McBride’s novel, published by Riverhead in August, follows the residents of a Black and Jewish neighborhood in 1930s Pottstown, Pennsylvania. The book won this year’s Kirkus Prize for fiction, with award jurors calling it “a boisterous hymn to community, mercy, and karmic justice.”
Sarah Gelman, the editorial director for Amazon Books, said that the company’s editors “fell in love” with the novel.
“Centered on a mysterious murder, it is, at its heart, a story of how powerful communities can be and what it means to be American, and it’s also a hopeful (and sometimes hilarious) reminder of our own capacity for kindness and compassion,” Gelman said.
In a statement, McBride said, “Every moment in history is full of sadness and tests. But love is the killer of mankind’s worst diseases. It lives without boundaries. It goes everywhere. You can find it everywhere. Even in a grocery store. I’m so glad you found it in this one.”
McBride’s novel ranked No. 1 on Amazon’s list of the 100 best books of the year. Rounding out the top five were Amanda Peters’ The Berry Pickers, Michael Finkel’s The Art Thief: A True Story of Love, Crime, and a Dangerous Obsession, Rebecca Yarros’ Fourth Wing, and Jonathan Eig’s King: A Life.
Previous books that Amazon has named the best of the year include David Grann’s Killers of the Flower Moon, Margaret Atwood’s The Testaments, and Gabrielle Zevin’s Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow.
Michael Schaub is a contributing writer.
