Are you struggling with The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store characters? Get an annotated list of all 100+ characters in James McBride’s bestselling novel (including animals and famous people) with their names, nicknames, descriptions, and the page on which they were first introduced. Plus, get a printable PDF of the list to take away with you.
You’ll read this character-driven novel with ease and be able to focus instead on its literary brilliance and heartwarming themes. Keep reading for the most comprehensive character guide out there.
The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store: Main Character Names
| Page Introduced | Character Name | Character Explained |
| 5 | Chona (also called Miss Chona) | a Jewish woman who was crippled by polio |
| 5 | Dodo (real name: Holly Herring; also known as Nate Love II) | Nate’s and Addie’s nephew; a deaf 10-year-old orphan boy injured in an accident involving an exploding stove when he was nine; talks well and can see again after a period of lost sight |
| 7 | Moshe Ludlow | Jewish manager of the All-American Dance Hall and Theater in Pottstown, Pennsylvania; Chona’s husband |
| 18 | Nate Timblin (nickname: Nate Love) | worker at Moshe’s theater |
| 25 | Doc Roberts (real name: Earl Roberts) | the town’s well-connected physician, a bookworm with a limp from polio, who was a head marcher in the town’s annual Ku Klux Klan parade |
All The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store Characters Explained
Below are all The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store characters, about whom I took notes while reading it.
NOTES AND TIPS
Page numbers refer to the hardcover edition.
Where a character had a name and a nickname(s), both are listed.
When the reader later learns more important facts about a character, I went back and entered them into the character description. It helps you see how integral they are to several plot points.
The names of animals are included to avoid any reader confusion.
The names of famous people mentioned are included, along with links to their Wikipedia pages, so you can learn more about them and how they relate to the book. It was no coincidence they were named!
Bookmark this link to refer back to The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store characters as you read.
| Page Introduced | Character Name | Character Explained |
| 4 | Malachi | bought the town bakery |
| 5 | Chona (also called Miss Chona) | a Jewish woman who was crippled by polio |
| 5 | Dodo (real name: Holly Herring; also known as Nate Love II) | Nate’s and Addie’s nephew; a deaf 10-year-old orphan boy injured in an accident involving an exploding stove when he was nine; talks well and can see again after a period of lost sight |
| 7 | Moshe Ludlow | Jewish manager of the All-American Dance Hall and Theater in Pottstown, Pennsylvania; Chona’s husband |
| 7 | Chick Webb | the “colored” leader of a twelve-piece band playing at the theater; a tiny man with a hunchbacked, curved spine |
| 7 | Mickey Katz | a Yiddish genius of klezmer music who played the clarinet and led a seven-piece ensemble |
| 13 | David Einhorn | the town’s first Rabbi who spoke out against slavery during the Civil War and was run out of town |
| 13 | Isaac | Moshe’s cousin in Philadelphia |
| 13 | Yakov Flohr (nickname: Reb) | Chona’s father and owner of The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store |
| 18 | Nate Timblin (nickname: Nate Love) | worker at Moshe’s theater |
| 19 | Erskine Hawkins | American trumpeter and big band leader |
| 19 | Anna Morse | a “well-dressed Negro woman” who owns “a colored dance hall” in Linfield and Morse’s Funeral Home |
| 24 | Rabbi Karl Feldman (nicknames: Fertzel, Frabbi) | the fumbling, but well-meaning leader of the Ahavat Achim congregation of Pottstown |
| 24 | Irv Skrupskelis | identical twin (considered to be the better half) who ran the local shoe store; known for being mean and disagreeable |
| 24 | Marv Skrupskelis | identical twin (of Irv) who ran the local shoe store; known for being mean and disagreeable |
| 25 | Doc Roberts (real name: Earl Roberts) | the town’s well-connected physician, a bookworm with a limp from polio, who was a head marcher in the town’s annual Ku Klux Klan parade |
| 26 | John Potts | the town’s founder |
| 29 | Addie Townsend Timblin | Nate’s wife, hired to help at The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store and for Sabbath chores |
| 31 | Bernice Davis | Chona’s next door neighbor and very quiet “Negro” childhood friend with at least 8 children; known otherwise for being mean and disagreeable; works as a cook for the Skrupskelis brothers |
| 31 | Darlene | Chona’s “Negro” neighbor |
| 32 | Larnell | Chona’s “Negro” neighbor, who couldn’t read but could do complex math in his head |
| 32 | Cleota | Addie’s sister, who also worked at The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store |
| 33 | Louis Jordan | a “Negro bandleader” |
| 37 | Rusty Davis | a handyman; Bernice’s stepbrother |
| 37 | Bags | Rusty’s uncle |
| 37 | Reverend Ed Spriggs (nickname: Snooks) | the community leader of Chicken Hill |
| 37 | Holly | wife of Reverend Ed Spriggs/Snooks |
| 42 | Fatty Davis (real name: Lloyd) | a muscular, gold-toothed man who ran Chicken Hill’s only speakeasy; Bernice’s brother |
| 42 | Yula | a townsperson |
| 42 | CJ | Yula’s son |
| 42 | Callie | Yula’s son |
| 43 | Mr. Eugenio Fabicelli | former owner of the bakery |
| 65 | Herb Radomitz | owner of the ice house |
| 76 | Thelma | Dodo’s mother who died; Addie’s sister |
| 81 | Patty Millison (nicknames: Newspaper, Paper) | a laundress and the local gossip |
| 83 | Willard Millstone Potts | the town’s chief baker; grandson of John Potts |
| 84 | Big Soap (real name: Enzo Carissimmi) | a large and gentle Italian from one of the few white families living on the Hill; a friend of Fatty Davis, who translated for him and worked at local plants with him |
| 86 | Clemy | Rusty’s aunt |
| 88 | Dick Clemens | works at Flagg Industries |
| 91 | Miggy Flood | from Hemlock Row; a Lowgod who used to work as a laundress with Paper and also used to work at Pennhurst |
| 93 | Earl “Shug Davis” | second cousin to Bernice; driver for the vice president of Pottstown |
| 93 | Bobby Davis | second cousin to Bernice; a handyman |
| 93 | Buck Weaver | the Pottstown native who played baseball for the Chicago White Sox |
| 93 | Mrs. Traffina Davis | wife of Reverend Sturgess and great-niece of Bernice |
| 93 | Reverend Sturgess | a reverend |
| 93 | Hollis Davis | Chicken Hill’s only locksmith |
| 93 | Chulo Davis | the legendary jazz drummer who left Chicken Hill to play with the Harlem Hamfats |
| 94 | Shad Davis | Bernice’s father; a friend of Chona’s father, Yakov |
| 96 | Norman Skrupskelis | a homebound shoemaker and father of Irv and Marv |
| 97 | Thunder | Shad’s mule |
| 99 | Yvette Hurlbutt Nezefky Skrupskelis | Norman’s mother |
| 100 | Lulu | Shad’s silent wife |
| 107 | Emma Goldman | a progressive Jew |
| 109 | Carl Boydkins | “the man from the state” looking for Dodo; Doc Roberts’s distant cousin, who was an athletic ladies’ man |
| 112 | Ed Bole (called himself Lord Earl Blessington of Sussex) | an Irish sailor tied to the Roberts family |
| 112 | Chaing Kai Wu | the Chinese emperor for whom Ed Bole was a manservant in 1774 |
| 113 | “the Blessington sisters” | Ed Bole’s widower and the American nanny she fell in love with |
| 114 | Uma | 15-year-old wife of the third new partner in the Roberts tract; said to have spent time at the Muncy penitentiary |
| 115 | Fitz-Hugh | Uma’s second husband, who made a fortune in opium and bought out the original owners and made a small one-man mill into two with four workers each |
| 117 | Della Burnheimer | Doc Roberts’s high school date |
| 121 | Dana Andrews | American film actor |
| 143 | Monkey Pants | Dodo’s 11 or 12-year-old friend at Pennhurst in Ward C-1; a white boy who couldn’t talk and “looked as if he had tied himself up in knots and was hiding from himself” |
| 157 | Lionel Hampton | a bandleader; American vibraphonist and pianist |
| 157 | Machito | part of the Afro-Cubans band |
| 157 | Louis Armstrong | American jazz legend |
| 157 | Joe Glaser | Armstong’s manager |
| 157 | Mario Bauza | leader of the Afro-Cubans band |
| 157 | Gladys Hampton | Lionel’s wife, who ran his band |
| 159 | Pedro | a member of Hampton’s band |
| 160 | Duke Ellington | American jazz pianist and composer |
| 168 | Doc Hinson | a “colored” doctor in Reading, Pennsylvania |
| 168 | Booker T. Washington | American educator, author, and orator; “one of the Negro’s greatest leaders” |
| 168 | Gene | Fatty’s older cousin, who “stumbled into a high-society Negro girl whose father owned a thriving dry-cleaning business” that he took over |
| 170 | Thomas Sturgis | the Quaker owner of the Chestnut Hill Riding Company |
| 172 | Stacy | a horse |
| 172 | Adolph | a half-blind Jewish rag peddler |
| 174 | David Hynes | a devout Christian with a kind heart |
| 174 | Billy O’Connell | a lieutenant at the Empire Fire Company; the cop who captured Dodo and took him to Pennhurst |
| 175 | Son of Man | an evil worker at Pennhurst |
| 176 | Dirt | President of the Volunteer Women’s Association of St. Aloysius Catholic Church in Pottstown |
| 182 | Mrs. Fioria Carissimi | Big Soap’s mother |
| 182 | Vivana Agnello | Gustowskis’s son; the head of the city council |
| 183 | Guido | Fioria’s cousin who wanted to buy the bakery |
| 183 | Pia Fabicelli | Eugenio Fabicelli’s younger sister; the city council’s janitor |
| 184 | Enrico | Vivana’s husband, who pretended to be a foreman at the Enlevra plant |
| 185 | Matteo | Pia’s husband, a plasterer |
| 206 | Junow Farnok (called himself Mr. Hudson) | a successful Budapest hatmaker from Buffalo, New York; member of the Ahavat Achim congregation |
| 206 | John Keaser | shoemaker |
| 208 | Hirshel Koffler | a young immigrant from Austria; brakeman for the Pennsylvania Railroad; member of the Ahavat Achim congregation |
| 208 | Yigel Koffler | a young immigrant from Austria (and Hirshel’s brother); brakeman for the Pennsylvania Railroad; member of the Ahavat Achim congregation |
| 208 | Paul Von Hindenburg | German president |
| 208 | Adolf Hitler | a young Austrian chosen by Hindenburg “to serve as chancellor to keep the Nazi party ‘in check'” |
| 210 | Gustowskis Plitzkas | owner of a farm near the top of the Hill |
| 213 | Gus Plitzkas | a man whom Reading gangsters were looking for |
| 230 | Bunny Hales | “a big, hulking Chicken Hill resident” |
| 233 | Abraham Lincoln | American president who abolished slavery |
| 243 | Bullis (nickname: Egg Man) | delivers eggs to Pennhurst |
| 244 | Sanko | a man who Reading gangsters were looking for |
| 249 | John Antes | Pottstown’s greatest composer |
| 249 | George Washington | first President of the United States |
| 251 | Ferdie | Plitzka’s cousin |
| 251 | Nig Rosen | a frightening mobster |
| 260 | Chief Markus | chief of police |
| 299 | Laverne | a woman from the Row who helped Miggy get a job at Pennhurst |
| 315 | Irene Dunne | American actress |
| 315 | Cab Calloway | American jazz singer and bandleader |
| 325 | Sister Rosetta Tharpe | great blues singer |
| 346 | Titus | a horse |
| 356 | Hal Leopard | the parade director |
| 357 | Druker | the Jewish tailor |
| 357 | Avram Gaisinsky | a Russian Jew who was a cornet player |
| 357 | Todrish | Avram’s son; a cornet player |
| 357 | Zusman | Avram’s son; a cornet player |
| 357 | Zeke | Avram’s son; a cornet player |
| 358 | Elia | Avram’s son; a cornet player |
| 361 | Henry Lit | a Russian Jew; a former boxer; a gambler |
| 377 | Uri Guzinski | a union boss for the Pennsylvania Railroad |
Printable PDF of The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store Characters List
PRINTABLE CHARACTER GUIDE
Get instant access to a printable PDF version of this character guide when you subscribe to The Literary Lifestyle’s free email newsletter community.
Quick Plot Summary of The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store
The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store was:
- an instant New York Times bestseller
- a New York Times notable book
- Barnes & Noble’s Book of the Year
- a best book of the year by NPR/Fresh Air, Washington Post, The New Yorker, and Time Magazine
- one of Barack Obama’s favorite books of the year
I rated it a five star read (out of five) and one of my favorite books set in Philly, but I would give it six stars out of five if I could.
The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store plot is simple: In the suburban Philadelphia neighborhood of Pottstown, Pennsylvania called Chicken Hill, in 1926, immigrant Jews and African Americans live peacefully. A young, deaf, and orphaned boy named Dodo is institutionalized at a local asylum. So, his Jewish Chicken Hill neighbors and extended African American family members plan to rescue him.
Analysis: Why the Characters Are Important
Major themes of this novel include the idea that many different people can happily co-exist and that everyone in a community affects the lives of each other. The author uses 100+ characters to show this.
I was lucky enough to learn this before I started reading it. So, I highlighted it and took detailed notes on the characters to aid my reading experience and share them with you.
Fear not! While some readers have become overwhelmed by The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store characters, you can use this guide to easily understand this interesting book to read.
Trust me, it’s so worth it. This novel both breaks your heart and makes it swell. It left me with the biggest and best kind of book hangover.
About the Author James McBride
about
James McBride is a popular African-American author, composer, and musician. He trained at Oberlin Conservatory of Music and Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
McBride received the 2013 National Book Award for Fiction for The Good Lord Bird, as well as the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award for Nonfiction. He was also awarded a 2015 National Humanities Medal by President Barack Obama. His novel Deacon King Kong was an Oprah’s Book Club pick.
Frequently Asked Questions
In The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James McBride, Nate Timblin (also known as Nate Love) works at Moshe Ludlow’s All-American Dance Hall and Theater in Pottstown, Pennsylvania. He is also the uncle of the central character, Dodo, a deaf 10-year-old orphan boy injured in an accident involving an exploding stove.
In The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James McBride, Malachi disappeared after the hurricane in June 1972 and was said to have “got off clean.” (page 6)
In The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James McBride, Dodo is Nate’s and Addie’s nephew. He’s a deaf 10-year-old orphan boy who was injured in an accident involving an exploding stove when he was nine.
In The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James McBride, Malachi is a man who bought the town bakery in the Chicken Hill neighborhood.
No. The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James McBride is historical fiction set at a real time and place: Pottstown, Pennsylvania, and the local Pennhurst Asylum, in the 1930s and 1940s.
Conclusion
The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store characters total over 100+, which can make reading the book feel daunting. But, it’s not to confuse you. It’s to show that everyone in a community affects each other’s lives and that different people can happily co-exist.
Use this guide to easily track the many fictional and real people named in the story. It’s well worth it, as this book is an award-winning bestseller that has captured the hearts of hundreds of thousands of readers.
Related Post: The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store Book Club Questions (with the Ending Explained)
