Synopsis:

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 these 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 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.

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What To Expect:

Readers can expect a historical fiction that deals with themes of racism, hardship, and community.

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Content Warnings:

Language: Moderate – Including derogatory slurs

Sexual Content: Mild – Just mentions of kissing, marriage, and a woman’s breasts shaking

Violence: Police violence, sexual assault (including children), medical neglect of kids and woman

Substance Use: Smoking

Prejudices: Antisemitism, anti African American racism, ageism and ableism towards young men with physical disabilities/learning disabilities, some religious tension between Judaism and Christianity

Religious Themes: God’s justice/vengeance is mine compared to human revenge, God loving people of all ethnicities

Other Topics: Marriage fighting, financial struggles

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