Grisham Writes A "Memoir"

John Grisham is the master of the legal thriller. He's written a novel a year for the past ten years, and they're all bestsellers.

Now he's trying something different. He's writing a literary novel in serial form - and there's not a lawyer to be found in it.

Grisham talked with CBS Early Show Anchor Bryant Gumbel about A Painted House. The semi-autobiographical novel will appear in six installments in Oxford American, a southern literary magazine.

The book, set in rural Arkansas in 1952, is the story of a family of cotton farmers as seen through the eyes of seven-year-old Luke Chandler.

In the opening installment, it's hot and the cotton has to be picked. Luke's father hires a family of "mountain people" and ten Mexican migrant workers who come and live at the farm for the harvest.

The arrival of the mountain people and the Mexicans bring new awareness to Luke. He's attracted to the teenage daughter in the mountain family, but frightened by their large, bullying son. He's also intrigued by the Mexicans, whose food and habits are so unlike his own family's.

"It's been a very interesting process. It's a different kind of book. It's a highly fictionalized childhood memoir," explained Grisham. "I haven't written the whole thing. I'm still not sure how it's going to end."

"It's not a fast-paced thriller but thoughtful and reflective. I want people to kick back and enjoy it," Grisham says.

Grisham creates an environment where you can feel the heat, hear the radio at night, smell the food cooking, and see the garden at the side of the house.

He admits that this book wouldn't have been written, "If I didn't put a gun to my head. The story has been around for a long timeÂ…It's a story I want to tell, but when I'm doing a legal thriller a year, it's hard to find time to work on another different type novel."

Although Grisham says he may write another book in this fashion, he's not going to serialize his legal thrillers.

"When I write a legal thriller, I deliberately set out to write a fast-paced, plot-driven story where the pages will turn. I want the books to be read at 3:00 in the morning and for them to call in late for work to finish the book."