The real-life story that made John Grisham a novelist revolved around the tragic story that brought a child to the witness stand.
On the Oct. 1 episode of The Mel Robbins Podcast, the author, whose books have sold nearly half a billion copies, described the day in a Mississippi courtroom that led to “A Time to Kill.“
“I was hanging around the courtroom one day when I saw something that changed everything,” Grisham said. “It was a trial that I knew about. We all knew about it because it was a horrible case.”
A young girl had been raped, and the man charged chose to go to trial. She was called to testify. “At times she was very brave. At times she was very frail,” Grisham said. “She told what happened. It’s horrible. And for an hour or so, she took us through every emotion known to the human soul.”
@melrobbinsOne moment can change the direction of your entire life. John Grisham former attorney turned bestselling novelist, shares the courtroom experience that inspired him to write his first novel, A Time to Kill, even though he had never written fiction before. Listen now! ? “How One “Golden Moment” Can Transform Your Entire Life
♬ original sound – Mel RobbinsHe knew three people on the jury. “It’s really bizarre to see all 12 jurors wiping their eyes,” he said. “The judge was hiding his face, and the only person who didn’t show any emotion was the defendant.”
When the girl could not continue, the judge called a recess. Grisham hurried to his car, realized he had left his briefcase behind and climbed the back stairs again. The defendant was still in his chair, watched by a single deputy.
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“I walked by the defendant, and I just had this thought,” Grisham said. “Had that been my daughter, and I could get this close, and I had a gun, I would happily blow your brains out, and I would look at the same jury and say, ‘Now what are you going to do to me for doing something that you all want to do?'”
He described the thought as “raw, intense, and filled with hatred,” adding, “It was awful. But it was real.”
By the time he left with his briefcase, he had the outline of a courtroom story “seen through the eyes of this idealistic young attorney.” “That was the origin of ‘A Time to Kill,'” he said. “I thought about it for days and weeks, and finally I said, ‘I’m going to start with chapter one and tell this story.'”
The trial took place in 1984 at the DeSoto County courthouse, where Grisham, then a practicing attorney and state legislator, watched a 12-year-old testify. The novel took three years to write and was rejected 28 times before Wynwood Press printed 5,000 copies.
The novel got a second life. The 1996 film adaptation, starring Matthew McConaughey, Samuel L. Jackson and Sandra Bullock, earned $152.3 million worldwide.
DeSoto County officials have since backed a historical marker in Hernando to recognize the lawyer who wrote his first novel between cases at the old courthouse.
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