Sooley: A Novel (Unabridged)
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4.2 • 25 Ratings
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- $24.99
Publisher Description
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • John Grisham is at the top of his game in this novel of a raw, young basketball player with big dreams—and even bigger challenges off the court.
“Grisham is about as good a storyteller as we’ve got.”—The New York Times Book Review
Samuel “Sooley” Sooleymon is just seventeen years old when he and his South Sudanese teammates come to the United States to compete in a basketball tournament. The opportunity to be scouted by college coaches is a dream come true. Though he is an amazing athlete, his technical game needs work.
And then Sooley receives devastating news from home: as a result of the civil war raging across South Sudan, his father is dead, his sister is missing, and his mother and two younger brothers are in a refugee camp. Moved by his story, the coach of North Carolina Central offers him a scholarship. Sooley moves to Durham, enrolls in classes, and prepares to sit out his freshman season.
But Sooley has a fierce determination to improve. He works tirelessly on his game, and soon he’s dominating in practice. With the Central team losing and plagued by injuries, Sooley is called off the bench. But how far can he take his team? And will success allow him to save his family?
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
John Grisham is a master of high-stakes drama. With this powerful novel, he takes on some of the most vital questions of our time through the story of a desperate young refugee, Samuel “Sooley” Sooleyman. Sooley gets the chance of a lifetime when he’s invited to travel from South Sudan to a basketball camp in the United States. But while the talented 17-year-old is playing for scouts, his village back home is decimated by a raging civil war—leaving his family broken and stranding Sooley thousands of miles away. This is so much more than a sports story, and Dion Graham’s propulsive narration makes us feel every pang of hope and fear that drives Sooley to make it into the NBA so he can save the people he loves. Grisham paints a vivid portrait of the horrors of war, but also of the unbreakable human spirit. Sooley is a profoundly moving listen about the power of hope in the face of even the worst tragedy.
