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and mentally unstable Hank
Spruill, attack three boys from the notorious Sisco family, one of whom is beaten so severely that he dies from his wounds. Hank arrogantly identifies Luke as a friendly witness who can support his version of the event. The fearful boy backs up his story, although the adults in his life, including local
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Aside from working long hours under the hot sun in the fields, Luke's life is fairly idyllic. He is obsessed with beautiful 17-year-old Tally
Spruill, who on one occasion lets him see her naked, bathing in a creek. But a much more unpleasant experience is seeing Tally's brother, the overly aggressive
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and the ordinary events that fill Luke's weekly routine. His hard work in the fields is preceded by a hearty breakfast of eggs, ham, biscuits, and the one cup of coffee his mother allows him, and at day's end he's rewarded with an evening on the front porch, where the family gathers around the radio
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The book's title refers to the
Chandler house, which never has been painted, a sign of their lower social status in the community. One day Luke discovers that someone has been secretly painting the weather-beaten clapboards white, and eventually he continues the job with the approval of his parents
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magazine. The entire novel was later published in hardback and paperback by
Doubleday. Set in the late summer and early fall of 1952, its story is told through the eyes of seven-year-old Luke Chandler, the youngest in a family of cotton farmers struggling to harvest their crops and earn enough to
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When Luke sees Cowboy, one of the
Mexicans, later murder Hank and tossing his body into the river, Cowboy threatens to kill Luke's mother if he tells anyone what he saw. Cowboy and Tally then run off together and are not seen again. Luke also learns that his admired Uncle Ricky, fighting in the
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The story begins as Luke
Chandler and his grandfather Eli, also known as Pappy, search for migrant workers to help them with the cotton picking. They initially consider themselves lucky to hire the Spruills, a family of
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catalog. Saturday afternoons are spent in town, where the adults share idle gossip and serious concerns and the youngsters visit the movie house, while Sunday morning is reserved for church. A visiting
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Trot
Spruill – the youngest Spruill, who suffers from a crippled arm. He is also mentally slow, and is the only member of the family, other than his sister Tally, to whom Hank is never cruel.
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plant, breaking a history of generations working on the land. The novel ends with Luke's mother smiling on the bus, having finally gotten her wish to leave cotton farming.
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Jesse
Chandler – Luke's father, who served in World War II (during which he suffered a debilitating injury), and struggles to help his father erase the family's debt.
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Chandler – Luke's mother, who tends to the garden while dreaming of a better life in a suburban home with indoor plumbing and modern conveniences.
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Stick Powers—Black Oak's lazy overweight sheriff, who asserts his authority when necessary but would prefer to catnap in his car parked in the shade.
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Ruth "Gran" Chandler – Luke's quiet, conservative, and wise grandmother who prays for the safe return of her younger son, Ricky, from the Korean War.
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A flood devastates the family's crop before the harvest is completed, and Luke's parents decide to travel to the city to find work in a
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Eli "Pappy" Chandler – Luke's highly respected and hard-working grandfather and patriarch of the family. He is a World War I veteran.
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The remainder of the Spruill family—consisting of the parents, Leon and Lucy, who fear Hank, and their two nephews, Bo and Dale.
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baseball games. A devoted fan, Luke is saving his hard-earned money to buy a team warm-up jacket he saw advertised in the
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genre in which he established himself. Initially published in serial form, the book was released in six installments in
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settle their debts. The novel portrays the experiences that bring him from a world of innocence into a harsh reality.
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Hank Spruill – the 'hill people' family's oldest son, boastful and quick to offer violence to anyone who offends him.
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and the assistance of the Mexicans, contributing some of his own savings for the purchase of paint.
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Grisham surrounds these dramatic moments with descriptive passages of life in the rural
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This house in Lepanto, Arkansas was the house used in the Hallmark Hall of Fame movie
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Pop and Pearl Watson—owners of the local store, a meeting place for the community.
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Cowboy – the Mexican who kills Hank, carries a switchblade and is quick to use it.
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Tally Spruill – the seventeen-year-old daughter in the migrant worker family.
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Luke Chandler – the youngest in the family and the protagonist of the story.
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Mostly the trials of a 7 year old boy living in north east Arkansas.
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Stick Powers, suspect he's too frightened to admit the truth.
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Miguel—leader of the Mexicans who work for the Chandlers.
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The Innocent Man: Murder and Injustice in a Small Town
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1134:The Chamber
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918:Ford County
657:The Summons
597:The Partner
567:The Chamber
389:Scott Glenn
228:Harry Caray
218:neighbors.
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1241:Categories
1203:The Client
1114:The Client
757:Calico Joe
717:The Appeal
697:The Broker
557:The Client
419:References
399:as Jesse,
391:as Pappy,
357:never seen
353:Korean War
212:Korean War
142:813/.54 21
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677:Bleachers
509:Works by
415:as Hank.
403:as Gran,
395:as Luke,
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65:Publisher
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1094:The Firm
537:The Firm
435:Archived
376:for the
355:. He is
330:Michigan
241:carnival
174:Arkansas
47:Language
204:sheriff
50:English
1226:(2018)
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104:388 pp
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223:South
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55:Genre
474:IMDb
189:Plot
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