A Painted House by John Grisham takes us back to life on an Arkansas cotton farm in the early 1950′s. Up to now, young Lucas’s life has been all about baseball, Saturdays in town, and waiting for his brother to come home from the war. He loves living on the farm with his parents and grandparents, even if they are too poor to even paint the house. Then one summer the migrant workers come in to help pick the cotton and change Lucas’s life forever.

This story of a boy growing up too fast is a change from Grisham’s normal fare, but the great writing and the suspense are still present.