A Painted House, John Grisham
A Painted House, John Grisham
75 Rating(s)
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A Painted House

Author: John Grisham

Narrator: David Lansbury

Unabridged: 12 hr 4 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 02/06/2001

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.

About John Grisham

John Ray Grisham, Jr. was born in Jonesboro, Arkansas on February 8, 1955. Grisham graduated from Mississippi State University and later from the University of Mississippi School of Law in 1981. He was a practicing criminal attorney for over ten years and then served in the House of Representatives from 1984 to 1990. He published his first novel in 1989 after working on it for five years. ‘A Time to Kill’, his first novel, launched his new career and was later made into a major motion picture. His first bestseller, ‘The Firm’, released in 1991, sold over seven million copies and was made into a box office hit starring Tom Cruise two years later. Almost twenty years later in 2012, a TV series was launched and picks up the life of Mitch McDeere and his family ten years after the events of the novel.

John Grisham has had his novels translated into more than forty languages and has sold nearly 300 million copies worldwide. He is a winner of the prestigious Galaxy British Book Award and is one of only three authors (the other two being Tom Clancy and J.K. Rowling) to ever sell two million copies of a first published novel. Nine of his novels (including ‘The Firm and ‘A Time to Kill’ have been made into major motion pictures.

Reviews

AudiobooksNow review by Michelle on 2009-06-08 15:59:30

This is a fantastic book. It takes place at the beginning of the Industrial era. This story is a look at what it was like for farmers and families back in the 1930's. The ending leaves a lot of questions for your own imagination to finish.

Goodreads review by Gina on March 21, 2008

I learned that John Grisham should write more books in this genre because this is his best work....forget all those clients, partners, pelicans. One night, with a bunch of old friends in an apartment above Times Square, we tuned in to tv before turning in and The Bill Moyers Report was being aired;......more

Goodreads review by Baba on March 15, 2024

In between the spaces of the urban monoliths spread across America lie thousands of rural communities, many of which were the first to feel the bites of recession and depression and the last to come out the other end. Set not so long after the Second World in rural Arkansas, this book follows one lo......more

Goodreads review by Diane on July 28, 2017

Great read! therapeutic,compelling,enjoyable and a moving story...determination,twists and turns to hold your interest to the end..well written (paperback!)......more

Goodreads review by Karen on August 29, 2023

I had forgotten about reading this one, until it became a recent donation to my Little Free Library Shed. I am now bringing my review to Goodreads. Let me just say that this is not a legal thriller for which Grisham is typically known for – it is more a coming-of-age story. I read that Grisham had or......more

Goodreads review by Karl on April 11, 2020

An incredibly wholesome, down to Earth, All-American tale.......more

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)

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