Long before John Grisham’s name became synonymous with the modern legal thriller, he was working 60-70 hours a week at a small law practice in Missippi, squeezing in time before going to the office and during courtroom breaks to work on his first novel.
Grisham’s father was a cotton farmer and itinerant construction worker. By his own account, he had no interest in writing until after he embarked on his professional career. After abandoning a youthful dream of a professional baseball career, he settled down for a career as a tax lawyer. While in law school, his interest shifted from tax law to criminal law and litigation.
Grisham’s maiden novel A Time To Kill 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 his first novel sold a disappointing 5,000 copies, Grisham had already begun work on a second novel The Firm which has sold more than seven million copies. Gradually, many more best-sellers were added to his credit.
Today John Grisham is an internationally known best-selling author of legal thrillers. Several of them have been made into blockbuster films.
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