May 5, 1999

Grisham finds place
for God in his book & life
___NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)--As a character, God provides "a fresh energy and a new element" for John Grisham's latest novel, according to USA Today reviewer Deirdre Donahue.
___"The Testament" includes Grisham's "trademark legal wrangling, zippy plot and engaging minor characters," Donahue wrote in a published review, "but there's a fresh energy and a new element. God."
___Grisham's 10th novel is "unabashedly spiritual without being doctrinaire," Donahue wrote. "The major question he explores: What is needed for a man to live a good and happy life? While characters in previous thrillers have found joy in

Author John Grisham

their offshore bank accounts, faith in God, not legal loopholes, is Grisham's new answer."
___Maybe that's a new answer for Grisham's characters, but it's nothing new for the author's personal life.
___Grisham is a 44-year-old Baptist layman who has taught Sunday school to young couples as well as 4-year-olds. The father of two teens also has developed a heart for missions, having traveled to Brazil as a volunteer several times in trips coordinated through the Southern Baptist International Mission Board.
___And despite his wealth--from 110 million books in print, with six of his novels having been made into movies--Grisham evidences a sense of stewardship.
___He and his wife, Renee, "measure the success of the year on how much we give away," Grisham said. They have set up a foundation to oversee their giving, the bulk of it going to church-related activities.
___Brazil is the setting into which "The Testament's" lead character, Nate O'Reilly, is thrust. An attorney battered by life in the fast lane, O'Reilly is hired to search for missionary Rachel Lane, who has been left the bulk of a billionaire's fortune. The billionaire has committed suicide and, as a shocker to his six spoiled children and three ex-wives, he left his wealth to Lane, an illegitimate daughter none of his greedy clan knew about.
___"Nate tried power and women and booze and drugs and the fast life and all the good things that money can buy," Grisham said in the interview. "He's crashed and burned four times in 10 years, and it's obvious he can't save himself.
___"I wanted to take a guy like that and sort of follow him on a kind of spiritual journey, his quest for a spiritual cure. ... I was challenged by the goal of seeing if I could make such a spiritual journey work in a popular novel, in commercial fiction."

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