Every year, farmers from the village of Arkansas hire people to pick up the cotton in their farms. Mexicans and Spruill family from hill arrive at the same day in a seven year old boy's house named Luke. They lived in a house that had never been painted.
With the house being painted secretly by Trot, from hill family, Luke goes through many experiences that his parents wouldn't have been happy if they had known. Keeping those as secrets, he encounters the feelings of pleasures to frustrations and fear. He works hard to earn his Cardinal jacket that he had once seen being advertised. Though Cardinals lose the game to go to the finals in American series, he always dreams to become cardinal. But before the completion of the harvest of cotton crop, both Spruills and Mexicans had to leave due to flooding that enters into their field.
Tally, one of the girl from Spruill, becomes good friend of Luke and shares some of the secrets breaks his heart by running away with the cowboy, one of the Mexicans. Still he prays god to protect her. Till the end Spruills becomes unaware of what happened with their son Hank.
Filled with suspense in A Painted House, Grisham describes with exact words through a young boy's narration who goes through different challenges to deal with his secrets that makes him a little more mature than his age. He symbolizes the change in Luke's life by the change in his house being painted.While reading the novel, it feels like you are just there with Luke and watching the scenes that he describes.
