Earth and High Heaven

By Gwethalyn Graham

During the summer of 1942, at a time when the world was already embroiled in the Second World War, twenty-eight-year-old Erica Drake meets Marc Reiser at a garden party. Though the two develop an interest in one another from the start, a seemingly insurmountable rift exists between them—Erica is a Gentile, while Marc is Jewish. However, as their attachment to one another deepens, they soon choose to face the disapproving arguments of their parents as well as their own prejudices.

Earth and High Heaven was one of the most highly acclaimed and popular books of its time. Published at the end of the Second World War, it won the Governor General’s Award and was the first Canadian novel to reach number one on The New York Times Bestseller list.

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• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Release date: Jan 5, 2016
• ISBN: 9781443451161

Gwethalyn Graham

Canadian novelist Gwethalyn Graham rose to international acclaim upon the publication of her first novel, Swiss Sonata, which won the Governor-General’s Award for Fiction in 1938. Her second book, Earth and High Heaven, spent almost a year atop the New York Times Best Seller List in 1944, becoming the first Canadian book to make such an appearance. Throughout her lifetime Graham worked tirelessly to promote racial and social equality, themes which became prevalent in her writing. Graham died in 1965 in Montreal from an undiagnosed brain tumour.