A Painted House (Hardcover)

In A Painted House, John Grisham is less concerned with tight plotting and legal shenanigans than with the roots of that country life which taught him much of what he knows about being human. In the early autumn of 1952, seven-year-old Luke Chandler is helping his family pick cotton on his grandfather's Arkansas farm; times are hard--Luke's uncle Ricky is off fighting in Korea and rent on the land, interest on crop loans, is due. Tension abounds--between the hillbilly Spruill family and the Mexican labourers who between them make up the farm's workforce; between the bully Hank Spruill and the Sisco family, one of whom he has killed in a fight; between the Chandlers and their neighbours the Larchers over Libby Larcher's baby--which she claims is Ricky's. This is a tight and yet achingly nostalgic book about growing up and moving on--the few months it covers are ones in which young Luke learns some important lessons about the way of the world, and his place in it. Grisham writes here with a sensitivity and sense of time and place which have not always been his most obvious virtues--it is a remarkable book. --Roz Kaveney

Worlds away from his usual legal dramas, this departure for John Grisham has produced a wonderfully evocative novel. Set in the late summer of 1952 in the cotton-growing regions of Arkansas, the story is told through the eyes of eight-year-old Luke Chandler. Born and raised on his grandfather's cotton farm, like his father before him, he dreams of a world beyond the cotton fields, only existing in his imagination from what he has heard on the radio. But first and foremost is the cotton picking to be done before the rains come.. Outside help in the form of Mexican labourers and hill people is recruited bringing with it antagonism and racism which will eventually culminate in murder. Within 20 pages you are hooked, watching and feeling this tough life through young Luke's eyes. Set against the strict Baptist upbringing of these poor farmers, Grisham gives an intense picture of a hard, insular life where everything revolves around the cotton crop. All the characters are memorable from Pappy who spends his life worrying about the weather to Hank, the Spruill's violent unstable son, to Cowboy the shifty Mexican. And he does not forget the women of this tough world who live in the background quietly ruling the roost and supporting their men without question. A memorable book marking a dramatic change of direction for Grisham - one which this reviewer for one hopes he continues. - Lucy Watson

For once, there is not a lawyer or courtroom in sight in this engaging novel by John Grisham. The story opens in September 1952, in rural Arkansas. The cotton is ready for picking and seven-year-old Luke Chandler, the narrator, is preparing to help his family with the chore of harvest. From this simple setting there develops a strong narrative in which we see Luke growing up rapidly while recording many crises. His family and their hired band of Mexicans and hill people must struggle not only against the elements but also against the past. The writing is wonderfully evocative, silky smooth and with just the odd colloquialism to remind us that this tale is told by a small boy. There is a deep sense of warmth, of family life, of kinship and mutual respect for those of the clan. Outsiders, meanwhile, must prove their worth. Not all is bucolic and wholesome, however. Through Grisham's polished prose we see God-fearing, hard-working people living on the verge of poverty with all the attendant worries this involves. It is a thoroughly American story, set in the early 1950s but redolent of lingering Depression. The pace is deceptively easy, disguising a poignancy that gives the tale a tougher edge as young Luke discovers the farm's many secrets. The one flaw is Grisham's portrayal of Luke, some of whose observations and choices of words would be more appropriate to a 30-year-old than to a child. However, this is an absorbing story that will win Grisham many new fans. (Kirkus UK)

This simple tale of cotton harvesting in 1952 Arkansas offers the curious a chance to see what Grisham would be like without all the lawyers.. Now that the weather's been suspiciously clement all season, Luke Chandler's father is looking for temporary labor to pick the 80 acres of cotton his family rents. He finds a hill family, the Spruills, who promptly pitch camp on Luke's baseball diamond in the front yard, and ten migrant Mexicans who all set to picking alongside the Chandlers. As the days grow shorter, Luke's dreams of moving to St. Louis and playing for the Cardinals are nurtured by Stan Musial's run at the batting title, and he prays his big brother Ricky will come home safely and soon from Korea and worries that he'll get beaten for all manner of infractions. Meanwhile, hulking Hank Spruill wades into a street brawl and leaves a man dead; his sister Tally takes up with one of the Mexican pickers; their younger brother Trot, whose withered arm keeps him from picking much cotton, gets the fantastical idea of painting the Chandlers' weathered house. As the improbable repository of the family secrets, Luke watches the episodic season unfold, but knows he can't say anything against the Spruills - not even the dangerous Hank - because trouble for any of them would chase the rest of them away, and his father needs every picker he can get. So the families drift along in a quietly uneasy alliance till the inevitable climax - still another moment Luke will have to keep secret..What's Grisham like sans lawyers? Leisurely and sentimental, a little like "The Cider House Rules", "The Human Comedy", "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer", and presumably a lot more like his own Arkansas childhood - yet not all that much different in this coming-of-age story from "A Time to Kill", "The Firm", and all those other tales of grown-up naifs in three-piece suits.. (Kirkus Reviews)