''Earth and High Heaven'' was a

1944 Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January 2 – WWII: ** Free French General Jean de Lattre de Tassigny is appointed to command French Army B, part of the Sixth United States Army Group in Nor ...

novel by Gwethalyn Graham. It was the first

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

novel to reach number one on ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' bestseller list"Gwethalyn Graham: Two fiction awards won by Montrealer". ''

The Globe and Mail ''The Globe and Mail'' is a Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of approximately 2 million in 2015, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on weekdays and Saturdays, although it ...

'', November 26, 1965. and stayed on the list for 37 weeks, selling 125 000 copies in the United States that year. Set in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple ...

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, the novel portrays a romance between Erica Drake, a young woman from a wealthy

Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...

family in Westmount, and Marc Reiser, a

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

lawyer and soldier from

Northern Ontario Northern Ontario is a primary geographic and quasi-administrative region of the Canadian province of Ontario, the other primary region being Southern Ontario. Most of the core geographic region is located on part of the Superior Geological Pro ...

. The young lovers are forced to confront and overcome the

anti-Semitism Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism. Antis ...

of their society in their quest to form a lasting relationship.

Literary significance & criticism

Originally published by Jonathan Cape and Thomas Nelson & Sons (Canada), the most recent edition of the novel was published by Toronto's

Cormorant Books Cormorant Books Inc is a Canadian book publishing company."Two houses under ...

in 2004.

Awards and nominations

''Earth and High Heaven'' won the 1944 Governor General's Award for fiction, and the 1945

Anisfield-Wolf Book Award The Anisfield-Wolf Book Award is an American literary award dedicated to honoring written works that make important contributions to the understanding of racism and the appreciation of the rich diversity of human culture. Established in 1935 by Clev ...

. It was also the ninth bestselling book of 1945 in the United States.

Film, TV or theatrical adaptations

Producer

Samuel Goldwyn Samuel Goldwyn (born Szmuel Gelbfisz; yi, שמואל געלבפֿיש; August 27, 1882 (claimed) January 31, 1974), also known as Samuel Goldfish, was a Polish-born American film producer. He was best known for being the founding contributor an ...

bought the movie rights to ''Earth and High Heaven'' for $100 000, intending for Katharine Hepburn to play Erica Drake. He initially hired Ring Lardner Jr. to adapt the screenplay. Goldwyn was, however, dissatisfied with the results, telling Lardner that he "betrayed imby writing too much like a Jew.". Goldwyn subsequently hired a succession of other writers to develop the script, and remained dissatisfied with the final product. After Elia Kazan released the similarly themed ''

Gentleman's Agreement A gentlemen's agreement, or gentleman's agreement, is an informal and legally non-binding agreement between two or more parties. It is typically oral, but it may be written or simply understood as part of an unspoken agreement by convention or th ...

'' in 1947, Goldwyn abandoned ''Earth and High Heaven'' rather than risk having it labeled by critics as a copy of Kazan's film.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Earth And High Heaven 1944 novels Antisemitism in Canada Governor General's Award-winning fiction books Jewish Canadian history Jews and Judaism in Montreal Jonathan Cape books New Canadian Library Novels set in Montreal