A Painted House - by John Grisham (Hardcover)

About the Book

Inspired by the author's own childhood in rural Arkansas, this moving story follows one boy's journey from innocence to experience. Luke Chandler, 7, lives in the cotton fields with his parents and grandparents in a little house that's never been painted. During the harvest, he sees and hears things no child could possibly be prepared for and finds himself keeping secrets that not only threaten the crop but will change the lives of the Chandlers forever.

Book Synopsis

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - In a tense, poignant novel of a boy awakening to his small town's secrets, "John Grisham takes command of this literary category just as forcefully as he did legal thrillers with The Firm" (Entertainment Weekly).

"You can't help thinking of other coming-of-age novels from the South: Huckleberry Finn or To Kill a Mockingbird."--The New York Times Book Review

Until that September of 1952, Luke Chandler had never kept a secret or told a single lie. But in the long, hot summer of his seventh year, two groups of migrant workers--and two very dangerous men--came through the Arkansas Delta to work the Chandler cotton farm. And suddenly mysteries are flooding Luke's world.

A brutal murder leaves the town seething in gossip and suspicion. A beautiful young woman ignites forbidden passions. A fatherless baby is born . . . and someone has begun furtively painting the bare clapboards of the Chandler farmhouse, slowly, painstakingly, bathing the run-down structure in gleaming white. And as young Luke watches the world around him, he unravels secrets that could shatter lives--and change his family and his town forever.

Review Quotes

"Captivating . . . This is John Grisham's best work."--CNN

"The kind of book you read slowly because you don't want it to end . . . John Grisham takes command of this literary category just as forcefully as he did legal thrillers with The Firm. . . . Never let it be said this man doesn't know how to spin a good yarn."--Entertainment Weekly

"Characters that no reader will forget . . . prose as clean and strong as any Grisham has yet laid down . . . and a drop-dead evocation of a time and place that mark this novel as a classic slice of Americana."--Publishers Weekly

"Some of the finest dialogue of his career . . . Every detail rings clear and true, and nothing is wasted."--The Seattle Times

"The pages turn. The characters take on their own lives. And at times, as the cotton bolls glisten in the sun, you can't help thinking of other coming-of-age novels from the South: Huckleberry Finn or To Kill a Mockingbird." --The New York Times Book Review

"Grisham, like the good suspense writer that he is, keeps subtly building the tension."-- Chicago Tribune

"Some of Grisham's best writing . . . Even without lawyers, A Painted House earns a well-deserved favorable verdict."--The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

"Captivating . . . colorful characters."--US Magazine

"Once again, Grisham has given us memorable characters and woven this fast-moving novel with the skill readers have come to expect."--Houston Chronicle

"Danger, thrills, and gossip are among the sinister and exhilarating features of this new work. . . . Grisham proves that he can spin a story outside familiar territory."--St. Petersburg Times

"Grisham lives up to his reputation as a prolific, inventive, and plot-driven storyteller. He throws in enough mayhem to keep the story line moving at a rapid clip."--The Memphis Commercial Appeal

"The best kind of book. By the time you turn the last page, you're so involved with the characters, you want to know what happened to them afterward."--The Denver Post

"The writing is as crisp and evocative as ever, the characterization snappy, and the various plot strands knotted together with an adept hand."--The Sunday Telegraph (London)

About the Author

John Grisham is the author of numerous #1 bestsellers, including The Firm, A Time to Kill, The Rainmaker, The Innocent Man, The Whistler, The Boys from Biloxi, and many more. His books have been translated into nearly fifty languages. Grisham is a two-time winner of the Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction and was honored with the Library of Congress Creative Achievement Award for Fiction. Grisham serves on the board of directors of the Innocence Project and Centurion Ministries, two national organizations dedicated to exonerating those who have been wrongfully convicted. Much of his fiction explores deep-seated problems in our criminal justice system. He lives on a farm in central Virginia.