First of all let me say that I am a die hard Grisham fan and I am a Mississippian, but I have to tell you that I was very disappointed in this book to begin with.  
 
It is very far removed from most of JG's work and I was not prepared for it!  
 
The story - seeming almost autobiographical - focuses on a seven year old boy "Luke" and his family the "Chandlers." Luke was born and raised in the cotton fields and at seven years old he picks almost a hundred pounds of cotton a day.  
 
Farming the Delta is not an easy thing and we learn through this tale that even a good harvest can be doomed! The passages were very descriptive and interesting for the most part.  
 
In the story, Luke is witness to racial tension, the birth of his illegitimate cousin, the murder of a local bully (out behind the cotton gin) and the murder of a field hand. There are no court room scenes as he never tells anyone but his grandfather what he has witnessed and Grandpappy deems it "their little secret."  
 
Life in the Delta was tough and the passages are nostalgic in the descriptions of sitting on the porch in the evening heat listening to the ball games and dreaming of being a Cardinal Baseball player one day.  
 
Lukes mother dreams of a better life for her and her family and I hope that they got it - and I would have appreciated finding out - but the ending is rather open and leaves many questions...like what happened to Uncle Ricky - did he make it back from the war? Did he give his child his name? Did Luke and his family find the "good life" after they moved north and did he ever get that Cardinals jacket????  
 
It is an interesting book if you can look at it with out expecting the Grisham "law and order" style. But given the content, this is one I would have gotten at the library instead of spending the money for the hard back for my Grisham collection.  
