A Painted House by John Grisham

 

A Painted House by John Grisham-388 pages

Early September, 1952, Arkansas cotton country.  Seven year old Luke is off school like all the other children so they could help their families pick cotton.  Luke lives with his grandparents and parents, who rent their 80 acre farm, in a little house that's never been painted.  Mysteriously while Luke and his mom are in the garden he looks up and notices that someone has begun painting their house white!  Who could be doing this, since they are all in the field except the little crippled boy from the Ozarks?  They hire Mexicans and hill people from the Ozarks to help them with the harvest.  For six weeks they all toil together bringing in the crop.  Among the way, Luke sees and hears way more than any boy his age is ready for.  He is keeping many secrets especially one big one.  For relaxation they would listen to Harry Carey announce the Cardinal baseball team starring Luke's favorite player, Stan Musial. Luke wants to be a Cardinal when he grows up. John Grisham  penned this story based on his own childhood growing up in rural Arkansas.  I enjoyed it very much, especially the Cardinal connection!

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