My son gave me this book for Christmas because I read several John Grisham books in the past which I liked. What makes his books interesting to me is that because he is a lawyer, he includes a lot of insight in his novels about the way the American law system works (or fails!). As a person who grew up in a very safe environment, I was quite naïve and overly trusting of those in authority. Grisham’s novels are really an eye-opener!
This novel is based in 1940s America, as well as in the Philippines where one of the main characters fought in the second world war. It presents a picture of the times and the ways that different types of people were affected by circumstances.
The story revolves around a multigenerational family living on a cotton plantation outside of a small town. They have black people working for them, who live on the farm. Unlike some, they treat their workers comparatively well. However, at the time blacks did not have the same legal rights as white people in the States.
Also many people were very religious. In this town most of the people are members of a few different protestant churches. Grisham brings out some of their differences, similarities and hypocrisies. In general, the people of this town are quite strait-laced and narrow in their views of right and wrong. However the mother of this family is from a big city and is considerably more worldly. Over time she becomes accustomed to the church of the family she married into, mostly because it affords the only social life available to her.
Her husband is drafted into the war and after several months the family receives the news that he is missing and presumed dead. This causes great grief, but they carry on with life. Meanwhile, he has not actually died, and a large section of the book goes into details of the war experiences that he went through. Horrible as it was, he came through a victor and a hero against all odds.
When he shows up suddenly back home, the family is overjoyed, but this doesn’t last long. Inexplicably the mother ends up in a mental institution, and the father goes into town and shoots their pastor in his church office! These things happen while the son and daughter are away at college. The son is studying to become a lawyer and gets involved with the family’s lawyers in the mystery of the case, which is drawn out over several years. You will have to read it yourself to find out the results! In the end it’s not what you think!
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