John
Grisham
was born
February
8, 1955
in
Jonesboro,
Arkansas.
His
father,
a cotton
farmer
and
itinerant
construction
worker
moved
the
family
frequently,
from
town to
town
throughout
the Deep
South,
settling
in
Southaven,
Mississippi
in 1967.
Although
his
parents
lacked
formal
education,
his
mother
encouraged
him to
read and
insisted
that he
prepare
himself
for
college.
Download
ebook
-
The
Street
Lawyer
-
The
Client
-
The Firm
-
The
Chamber
-
A Time
To Kill
-
The
Partner
-
Pelican
Brief
-
The
Summons
-
The Last
Juror
-
Rainmaker
-
Bretheren
-
Painted
House
——————————————————
By
his own
account,
he had
no
interest
in
writing
until
after he
embarked
on his
professional
career.
For his
first
two
years in
college,
Grisham
drifted,
attending
three
different
colleges
before
earning
a
degree.
After
abandoning
a
youthful
dream of
a
professional
baseball
career,
he
settled
down to
study
accounting
and
prepare
for a
career
as a tax
lawyer.
While in
law
school,
his
interest
shifted
from tax
law to
criminal
law and
litigation.
After
graduating
from the
University
of
Mississippi
law
school,
he
established
a small
private
legal
practice
in
Southaven
Mississippi.
He was
elected
the to
Mississippi
House of
Representatives
in 1983.
By his
second
term he
held the
vice
chairmanship
of the
Apportionment
and
Elections
Committee,
as well
as
memberships
on the
Insurance,
Judiciary
A, and
Military
Affairs
Committee.
In
Mississippi,
attorneys
in
private
practice
are
sometimes
called
upon to
appear
as
public
defenders
for
indigent
clients.
In this
way,
Grisham
received
invaluable
experience
of the
criminal
justice
system.
Inspired
by a
case he
observed
in a
Mississippi
courthouse,
Grisham
decided
to write
a novel.
For
years,
he
arrived
at his
office
at five
o’clock
in the
morning,
six days
a week,
to work
on his
first
book,
A
Time To
Kill.
His
manuscript
was
rejected
by 28
publishers
before
he found
an
unknown
publisher
who was
willing
to print
a short
run.
Without
the
benefit
of a
major
publisher’s
marketing
apparatus,
the
novice
author
went
directly
to
booksellers,
encouraging
them to
stock
his
book.
Although
A
Time to
Kill
sold a
disappointing
5,000
copies,
Grisham
had
already
begun
work on
a second
novel
The
Firm.
At the
same
time,
bored
with the
routine
of the
state
capital
and
eager to
spend
more
time
with his
family,
he
decided
not to
seek
re-election
to the
state
legislature.
He
closed
his law
practice
and
moved
his
family
to
Oxford,
Mississippi,
determined
to
concentrate
on his
writing.
At
age 36,
his
career
as a
novelist
bloomed
when
movie
rights
to
The Firm
were
sold for
a hefty
price,
even
before
the book
had
found a
publisher.
The
Firm,
has sold
more
than
seven
million
copies
and
spent 47
weeks on
the New
York
Times
bestseller
list.
Grisham’s
next
offering,
The
Pelican
Brief,
sold six
million
copies.
Within a
few
years,
The
Firm,
The
Pelican
Brief,
and his
subsequent
effort,
The
Client,
(1993)
had all
been
made
into
successful
films.
His
other
novels
include
The
Chamber
(1994),
The
Rainmaker
(1995),The
Runaway
Jury
(1996)
and
The
Partner
(1997).


