Earth and High Heaven

Earth and High Heaven

infobox Book |
name = Earth and High Heaven
title_orig =
translator =


image_caption =
author = Gwethalyn Graham
illustrator =
cover_artist =
country = Canada
language = English
series =
genre = Novel
publisher = Jonathan Cape and Thomas Nelson & Sons (Canada)
release_date = 1944
english_release_date =
media_type = Print (Hardback & Paperback)
pages = 228 pp (first edition, hardcover)
isbn = NA
preceded_by =
followed_by =

"Earth and High Heaven" was a 1944 novel by Gwethalyn Graham. It was the first Canadian novel to reach number one on "The New York Times" bestseller listFact|date=July 2008 and stayed on the list for 37 weeks [ [http://www.aecb.org/eng/titles.asp?id=3028 AECB - Title Detail - Earth and High Heaven] ] , selling 125 000 copies in the United States [cite news
last =
first =
coauthors =
title = The Year in Books
work = Time
pages =
language =
publisher =
date = 1944-12-18
url = http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,778308,00.html
accessdate = 2008-07-20] that year.

Set in Montreal, Quebec during World War II, the novel portrays a romance between Erica Drake, a young woman from a wealthy Protestant family in Westmount, and Marc Reiser, a Jewish lawyer and soldier from Northern Ontario. The young lovers are forced to confront and overcome the anti-Semitism of their society in their quest to form a lasting relationship.

Literary significance & criticism

Originally published by Jonathan Cape and Thomas Nelson & Sons (Canada) [ [http://www.canadacouncil.ca/NR/rdonlyres/BE2F80B8-E8A9-40C3-84A2-285127AACA2D/0/CumulativeWinner2007.pdf Cumulative List of Winners of the Governor General's Literary Awards] ] , the most recent edition of the novel was published by Toronto's Cormorant Books in 2003. Reviews of the new edition noted that while the book was advanced for its day, modern readers may find some parts of the book offensive. For instance, Reiser is depicted as being an acceptable partner for Drake in part because he doesn't have a stereotypically Jewish appearance.

Awards and nominations

"Earth and High Heaven" won the 1944 Governor General's Award for fiction, and the 1945 Anisfield-Wolf Book Award. It was also the ninth bestselling book of 1945 in the United States.

Film, TV or theatrical adaptations

Producer Samuel Goldwyn 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 [him] by writing too much like a Jew." [cite book
last = McGilligan
first = Patrick
title = Backstory 3: Interviews with Screenwriters of the 60s
publisher = University of California Press
date = 1997
location = Berkeley
pages = 208
url = http://www.escholarship.org/editions/view?docId=ft138nb0zm&chunk.id=d0e10715&toc.depth=1&toc.id=d0e10715&brand=ucpress
isbn = 978-0-520-20426-3] . 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" in 1947, Goldwyn abandoned "Earth and High Heaven" rather than risk having it labeled by critics as a copy of Kazan's film.

References


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