Painted house

Author: John Grisham
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2003-06-01
Features: In 1952, during the cotton harvest season, like other farmers in the area, the cotton farmers in Arkansas, the Chandler family, hired seasonal workers—Mexicans and mountain people—to help them pick cotton. Under the scorching sun, everyone, including seven-year-old Luke, toiled hard to harvest this eighty-acre cotton field. Over time, the Chandler family's life underwent unexpected changes: the mountain man Hank, whom they hired, got into trouble in town and killed a young man who argued with him; Hank and the Mexican cowboy developed a grudge, and as a result, he was stabbed to death by the cowboy; Hank's sister, Tilly, ran away with the cowboy after falling in love with him; Luke's uncle had a child with the tenant farmer's daughter, and Luke experienced too much of what a child his age shouldn't see or hear. The harvest didn't bring joy to the cotton farmers; a flood washed away a year's worth of hard work. Just as they were about to finish painting the entire house, Luke left with his parents the land they had relied on for survival.