John Grisham

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John Grisham

John Grisham in 2008

Birth name John Ray Grisham

Birth February 8 , 1955 (59 years old)

Jonesboro , Arkansas , United States

Nationality United States

Occupation Writer , lawyer , politician

John Ray Grisham ( Jonesboro , Arkansas , United States , February 8 , 1955 ) is an

American writer known for his judicial thrillers, whose works have sold more than 250
million copies worldwide. In the past he dedicated himself to law and politics ,
appearing in the Democratic ranks.

Index
[ disguise ]
 1 Biography and career
 2 Bibliography

o 2.1 Legal fiction novels

o 2.2 Theodore Boone Series (juvenile legal fiction novels)

 o 2.3 Non-legal works of fiction

o 2.4 Novelized non-fiction books

 3 Argument of his works

o 3.1 Legal fiction books

o 3.2 Non-legal fiction books

o 3.3 Novelized non-fiction books

 4 Adaptations
o 4.1 Movies

o 4.2 Television series

 5 References
 6 External links

Biography and career[ edit ]

The second of five children, Grisham was born in Jonesboro, Arkansas, to a modest
Baptist family. His father worked as a construction worker and grew cotton. After
several moves, the family settled in 1967 in the small town of Southaven in
Mississippi . Encouraged by his mother, the young Grisham was an avid reader,
especially influenced by the work of John Steinbeck , whose clear writing he admired.
In 1977, Grisham earned a bachelor's degree in accounting from Mississippi State
University . While studying there, the author kept a journal, a practice that would later
help him in his creative work. After earning his J.D. from the University of Mississippi
School of Law in 1981, he devoted himself to general law for about a decade in
Southaven, where he tired of criminal law and switched to civil law .

In 1983 , he was elected to the Mississippi House of Representatives, serving until 1990
.

In 1984 in a Hernando , Mississippi, courtroom, Grisham witnessed the horrific

testimony of a 12-year-old rape victim. In his free time and as a hobby, Grisham began
working on his first novel , in which he explored what would have happened if the
victim's father had murdered his attackers. He spent three years writing Time to Kill,
finishing it in 1987 . Initially rejected by several publishers, it was purchased by
Wynwood Press, which made a modest printing of 5,000 copies and published it in June
1988 .

The day after finishing Time to Kill , he began working on another novel, the story of a
young lawyer attracted to a seemingly perfect law firm that was not what it seemed.
That second novel, La tapadera , became the best-selling book of 1991 . Grisham
continued to produce at least one book a year, many of which were bestsellers. Starting
with The Farm in 2001 , the author changed his focus from Law to more general themes
of the southern countryside.
Publishers Weekly declared Grisham "the best-selling novelist of the 1990s ." He is also
the best-selling American novelist in history. During the 1990s it sold a total of
60,742,288 copies. He is also one of only two authors to sell two million copies of a
first edition. His novel The Pelícano Report , from 1992 , sold 11,232,480 in the US
alone. In the US, it became the best-selling novel of the decade and the only one to sell
more than ten million copies.

In 1996 Grisham briefly returned to the practice of law when he successfully

represented the family of a man killed in a train accident. He is currently a member of
"The Innocence Project", an American organization that is dedicated to reviewing the
cases of unjustly convicted people to try to achieve their release, as well as advocating
changes in laws that prevent these miscarriages of justice.

In 2013, the military authorities at Guantanamo prohibited the delivery of books by this
author (which review many of the basic principles of American law) to prisoners held at
this military facility, because they were "problematic." 1

The Mississippi State University Library, Manuscript Division, maintains the "John
Grisham Papers", an archive containing material generated during the author's tenure in
the Mississippi House of Representatives relating to his works.

Grisham's passion for baseball is evident in his novel The Farm and in his support of
Little League activities in both Oxford, Mississippi and Charlottesville , Virginia . He
has also carried out service missions for his church in Brazil . Grisham describes
himself as a "moderate Baptist." He lives with his wife Renee Jones and their two
children, Ty and Shea. The family divides their time between their Victorian home on a
farm outside Oxford , Mississippi and a plantation near Charlottesville.

Bibliography[ edit ]
Legal fiction novels[ edit ]

 Time to Kill ( A Time to Kill , 1989)

 The Cover ( The Firm , 1991)
 The Pelican Brief ( 1992)
 The Client ( The Client , 1993)
 Gas Chamber ( The Chamber , 1994)
 Self Defense ( The Rainmaker , 1995)
 The Jury ( The Runaway Jury , 1996)
 The Partner ( The Partner , 1997)
 Just Cause ( The Street Lawyer , 1998)
 The Testament ( 1999)
 The Brotherhood ( The Brethren , 2000)
  The Summons ( The Summons , 2002)
 The King of Torts ( 2003)
 The Last Juror ( 2004)
 The Broker ( The Broker , 2005)
 The Appeal ( The Appeal , 2008)
 The Trap ( The Associate , 2009)
 The confession ( The Confession , 2010)
 The litigants ( The Litigators , 2011).
 The Hustler ( The Racketeer , 2012).
 Sycamore Row ( Sycamore Row , 2013). Not yet published in Spanish.

Theodore Boone series (juvenile legal fiction novels)[ edit ]

 Theodore Boone: Kid Lawyer ( Theodore Boone: Kid Lawyer , 2010).

 Theodore Boone: The Abduction ( Theodore Boone: The Abduction , 2011).
 Theodore Boone: The Accused ( Theodore Boone: The Accused , 2012).
 Theodore Boone: The Activist ( Theodore Boone: The Activist , 2013). Not yet
published in Spanish.

Non-legal works of fiction[ edit ]

 The Farm ( A Painted House , 2001)

 A Different Christmas ( Skipping Christmas , 2001)
 The Last Match ( Bleachers , 2003)
 The Professional ( Playing for Pizza , 2007)
 Seven Lives ( Ford County , 2009). Book of 7 stories
 Calico Joe ( Calico Joe , 2012). Not yet published in Spanish.

Fictional non-fiction books[ edit ]

 The Wavedancer Benefit : A tribute to Frank Muller , 2002, with Pat Conroy ,
Stephen King and Peter Straub . Not published in Spanish.
 The Williamson Project ( The Innocent Man: Murder and Injustice in a Small
Town , 2006)

Argument of his works[ edit ]

Legal fiction books[ edit ]
 Time to Kill ( A Time to Kill , 1989). We are in the early 80s. In a quiet southern
town in Mississippi, two drunk young men savagely rape a ten-year-old black
girl. The boys are apprehended, blacks and whites alike are horrified. Until Carl
Lee, the girl's father, armed with an assault rifle, decides to take justice into his
own hands. He then launches a shootout against his daughter's rapists. On the
eve of Carl Lee's trial, as tension grows, the burning crosses of the Ku Klux
Klan reappear on the streets of Clanton. Jake Brigance, a young white lawyer,
and his assistant Ellen Roark, will do everything possible to save Carl Lee's life,
while trying not to lose his own life. If Carl Lee is declared innocent, justice will
have been done; but if he is found guilty, justice will also have been done.

 The cover ( The Firm , 1991). After leaving Harvard Law University with an
extraordinary record, an unbeatable future opens up for Mitchel McDeere, where
the best law firms in the United States raffle off his hiring. Finally choose one of
the most respected. As soon as he signs his contract, the firm gives him and his
wife a wonderful house, a BMW and access cards to the best private golf clubs
in the city. However, nothing is as it seems inside that firm, and the FBI is
secretly investigating them for money laundering. Mitch must decide between
continuing with his promising career or betraying his friends at his law firm.

 The Pelican Brief (1992). In the prologue of this story two justices of the United
States Supreme Court are assassinated. A young and brilliant law student named
Derby Shaw will try to solve the mystery behind the deaths. What could not be
given a police explanation, perhaps a legal explanation can be given -Derby
thinks- and writes a crazy report that links the murders with a case that must be
resolved by the highest court in the country. His report reaches the higher
government and people who were bothered by his report will also try to kill the
girl who somehow hit home.

 The client ( The Client , 1993). Eleven-year-old Mark Sway knows who killed a
United States senator, but he fears the killers want to kill him.

 Gas chamber ( The Chamber , 1994). Adam Hall, a recently graduated lawyer,
tries to have the death sentence commuted for a man who planted a bomb in a
Jewish lawyer's office. He barely has four weeks before Sam, his new client, is
executed in the gas chamber.

 Self-defense ( The Rainmaker , 1995). Rudy Baylor takes a case against a huge
insurance company that refused to save a young man's life. A typical case of bad
faith. He has no courtroom experience or even a license to practice law; It only
has in its favor the little that they teach law students at the university. It will be a
great battle between a small lawyer and a well-defended insurance company
with infinite resources in its favor.

 The Jury ( The Runaway Jury , 1996). Rankin Fitch is an expert on jury selection
and tampering. This time he is hired by a large arms company that is willing to
do anything to win.

 The Partner ( The Partner , 1997). The partner of a law firm fakes his death and
steals ninety million dollars. Then he flees to Brazil.
 Just Cause ( The Street Lawyer , 1998). Michael Brock leaves his career at a
prestigious Washington law firm to work as a lawyer for the homeless.

 The testament ( The Testament , 1999). Troy Phelan is a tired, elderly and
disappointed billionaire businessman in the twilight of his life. All his children
have squandered the money he has given them, his ex-wives have been
ungrateful. But they all want a piece of his fortune and hope he dies soon. He
then prepares a show, gathering his entire family to make a new will,
establishing his children and ex-wives as heirs. Then, in the last minutes of his
life, behind closed doors he annuls the newly signed will and names a
mysterious illegitimate daughter as his heir. Troy, having signed a will, makes
his way across the terrace of his enormous building and jumps into the void. A
fierce battle will begin between his children for the inheritance and the search
for the heir to the fortune of the great Troy Phelan.

 The brotherhood ( The Brethren , 2000). Three imprisoned former judges form a
brotherhood that gets out of control and directly threatens national security.

 The Summons ( The Summons , 2002). A dying judge summons his children.
One of them finds a fortune hidden from his father.

 The King of Torts ( 2003). Lawyer J. Clay Carter takes on a case that takes him
into the dark world of a pharmaceutical company. He becomes rich, and with it
comes many problems.

 The Last Juror ( The Last Juror , 2004). In the early 1970s, fresh out of college,
Willie Traynor buys a weekly newspaper in Ford County. Circumstances cause
Willie to become entangled with the biggest media and judicial scandal of the
time. He and his newspaper will grow alongside Ford County.

 The Broker ( The Broker , 2005). Joel Backman is released early by a

presidential pardon. He is taken to Italy to start a new life, arguing that his life
would be in danger in the United States. However, he suspects that something is
hiding behind everything.

 The Appeal ( The Appeal , 2008). A large chemical company is condemned for
contaminating the water of an entire city and causing a large increase in cancer
cases among the population. The fine is very high, more than they expected, but
that is just the beginning.

 The trap ( The Associate , 2009). A young lawyer, graduated from Yale
University, is pressured to accept a position at a major law firm and is
blackmailed into providing privileged information about a multimillion-dollar
lawsuit.

 The Confession ( The Confession , 2010) Donté Drumm, a young black man, is
on death row in Texas accused of a crime he did not commit. Only the true
murderer can free him. A racial conflict is about to break out. The raw face of
death penalty is brilliantly portrayed in this book.
  The Litigators ( The Litigators , 2011).

Non-legal fiction books[ edit ]

 The farm ( A Painted House , 2001). The author, evoking his childhood in the
1950s in Arkansas, transfers the tension of his thrillers to rural areas in this
novel. Luke Chandler, a seven-year-old boy, offers us the fate of Black Oak
through his eyes. His family, at the beginning of the cotton harvest season, hires
and brings together in this small rural community people of very different
origins, such as Mexicans and seasonal workers, who work at the mercy of
inclement weather. The harsh conditions added to the differences between them
will end up making coexistence impossible, and tension and quarrels will give
way to violent confrontations. Luke, an involuntary witness to the events, will
not be able to prevent him and his family from becoming involved, threatening
not only to ruin the harvest but also their lives.

 A different Christmas ( Skipping Christmas , 2001). The married couple of

Luther and Nora Krank have planned, for the first time in their lives, not to
celebrate Christmas, that is, not to prepare parties, meals or give each other gifts,
but nothing will go as planned. The movie "Christmas With the Kranks" was
inspired by this book.

 The Last Match ( Bleachers , 2003). After fifteen years away from his
hometown, Neely Crenshaw, the best quarterback to ever play with the Messina
Spartans, his high school team, returns to accompany his former coach, Eddie
Rake, in his battle against a terminal illness. the man who turned this small team
into an unbeatable legend of American football. Nelly and his teammates
remember the old games, relive past glories, and try to decide once and for all
what opinion they deserve of their coach, whether they love him or hate him,
because although he brought them glory and triumphs, he also pushed them to
the limit both in terms of physically as well as personally. Neely Crenshaw, in
turn, struggles to reconcile with his coach, with his dreams of a brilliant career in
the NFL and with the decisions he made as a young man.

 The Professional ( Playing for Pizza , 2007). It tells the story of Rick Dockery,
an American football player who, after failing with his last team, the Cleveland
Browns, along with a legal problem due to a paternity dispute, and tired of
looking for opportunities in the American Football League, decides to go to Italy
to play for a semi-professional team, the Parma Panthers. This story involves a
man's journey to a country he knows nothing about, and with a selfish past, to
find his true desires and to feel his passion for the sport he loves again.

 Seven Lives ( Ford County , 2009). Book of 7 stories.

 Calico Joe ( Calico Joe , on sale in the United States on April 10, 2012). Not yet
published in Spanish.

Fictional non-fiction books[ edit ]

  The Williamson Project ( The Innocent Man: Murder and Injustice in a Small
Town , 2006). Based on the true story of former baseball player Ronald Keith
Williamson, John Grisham delves into the life of this man wrongfully sentenced
to death for the murder of a woman in a small town in Oklahoma. After twelve
years in prison, his lawyers managed to prove his innocence five days before the
date on which he was to be executed.

Adaptations[ edit ]
Movies[ edit ]

 The Cover ( The Firm , 1993, directed by Sydney Pollack )

 The Pelican Brief (1993, directed by Alan J. Pakula )
 The Client ( The Client , 1994, directed by Joel Schumacher )
 Time to Kill ( A Time to Kill , 1996, directed by Joel Schumacher )
 Sealed Chamber ( The Chamber , 1996, directed by James Foley )
 Self Defense ( The Rainmaker , 1997, directed by Francis Ford Coppola )
 Conflict of interest ( The Gingerbread Man , 1998, directed by Robert Altman ).
Based on a short story.
 The farm ( A Painted House , 2003, directed by Alfonso Aráu ). Adaptation for
television.
 The Jury ( Runaway Jury , 2003, directed by Gary Fleder )
 A Crazy Christmas ( Christmas with the Kranks , 2004, directed by Joe Roth ).
Adaptation of the play A Different Christmas (Skipping Christmas) .

Television series[ edit ]

 The Client ( The Client , 1995-1996)

 The Firm ( The Firm , 2011, creators: John Grisham and Lukas Reiter)

References[ edit ]
1. Back to top ↑
http://www.elmundo.es/america/2013/08/13/estados_unidos/1376363753.html

External links[ edit ]

 Wikimedia Commons has media related to John Grisham .
 John Grisham Official Site (in English)
 John Grisham at Internet Movie Database