#1 NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER • John Grisham takes you to a different kind of court in his
first basketball novel. Samuel Sooley” Sooleymon is a raw young talent with big hoop
dreams—and even bigger challenges off the court. Hard to put down ... the pages turn quickly
... building to a climax that won’t leave readers doubting whether this is a John Grisham
novel.” —Associated PressIn the summer of his seventeenth year Samuel Sooleymon gets the
chance of a lifetime: a trip to the United States with his South Sudanese teammates to play in
a showcase basketball tournament. He has never been away from home nor has he ever been on an
airplane. The opportunity to be scouted by dozens of college coaches is a dream come
true.Samuel is an amazing athlete with speed quickness and an astonishing vertical leap.
The rest of his game though needs work and the American coaches are less than
impressed.During the tournament Samuel receives devastating news from home: A civil war is
raging across South Sudan and rebel troops have ransacked his village. His father is dead
his sister is missing and his mother and two younger brothers are in a refugee camp.Samuel
desperately wants to go home but it’s just not possible. Partly out of sympathy the coach of
North Carolina Central offers him a scholarship. Samuel moves to Durham enrolls in classes
joins the team and prepares to sit out his freshman season. There is plenty of more mature
talent and he isn’t immediately needed.But Samuel has something no other player has: a fierce
determination to succeed so he can bring his family to America. He works tirelessly on his game
shooting baskets every morning at dawn by himself in the gym and soon he’s dominating everyone
in practice. With the Central team losing and suffering injury after injury Sooley as he is
nicknamed is called off the bench. And the legend begins.But how far can Sooley take his team?
And will success allow him to save his family?Gripping and moving Sooley showcases John
Grisham’s unparalleled storytelling powers in a whole new light. This is Grisham at the top of
his game.Don’t miss John Grisham’s new book THE EXCHANGE: AFTER THE FIRM coming soon!
