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‘I loved this book’ BONNIE GARMUS
‘A generous, compassionate book about the power of love and community’ LOUISE KENNEDY
‘I can’t recommend this one highly enough ‘ HARLAN COBEN
‘THIS is his best book’ ANN PATCHETT
THE MAJOR INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER
BARACK OBAMA’S BOOK OF THE YEAR PICK
AMAZON.COM #1 BOOK OF THE YEAR
BOOK OF THE YEAR IN: THE GUARDIAN, NEW YORKER, NEW YORK TIMES, TIME MAGAZINE, HARPER’S BAZAAR, OPRAH DAILY AND WASHINGTON POST
WINNER OF THE 2023 KIRKUS FICTION PRIZE
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 neighbourhood where immigrant Jews and African Americans lived side by side and shared ambitions and sorrows.
As the story moves back in time to the 1930s and the characters’ stories overlap and deepen, it becomes clear how much the people who live on the margins struggle and what they must do to survive. When the truth is finally revealed about what happened on Chicken Hill, McBride shows us that even in dark times, it is love and community – heaven and earth – that sustain us.
