John Grisham's thriller set in suggestive Cortona, the Etruscan Village

Cortona, the Grisham Effect. The bestseller could also become a movie with Tom Cruise

by Luca Amodio

Suggestive Cortona the Etruscan Village appears once again in a bestseller with a million copies sold worldwide. And there is even the possibility that it could become a film starring Tom Cruise. The Etruscan city has once again captured the heart of an author across the ocean: on the other side of the Atlantic, it is the writer John Grisham, with 300 million copies sold throughout his career, who mentions the town in his latest book, The Exchange. In this sequel to one of his biggest successes, The Firm, Grisham tells the story of Mitch and Abby McDeere, who, on their journey from Manhattan to Rome, discover the village in the Valdichiana. “We left the islands and traveled around Europe for a few months, backpacking and taking trains. One day we found ourselves in the charming town, in Tuscany, not far from Perugia,” reads the book. “In the first month, we had so much fun that we decided to stay longer. The owner also ran a bed and breakfast nearby, always packed with American and English tourists who wanted cooking lessons. Abby took part in them and soon became passionate about Italian cuisine. I focused on the wines.” Mitch and Abby had planned to stay only a short time, but enchanted by the beauty of the town, home to Signorelli, they decide to live there for a year.

This doesn't just happen in books, but also in reality, as evidenced by the many “new Cortonesi”, Americans and Northern Europeans who decide to buy homes in the town. Grisham’s story is set in 2005 and begins in New York: Mitch is a partner in the world's largest law firm, while Abby is a cookbook editor. The lawyer decides to travel to Italy with his wife after a respected Roman partner asks him to assist in a delicate international case. Grisham later told Time Magazine that The Exchange (the original title of the book) could also become a movie if Tom Cruise, who played Mitch McDeere in The Firm, agrees to star.

In 1996, Frances Mayes published Under the Tuscan Sun, an autobiographical book recounting the actress’s experience in Tuscany, where she bought and renovated an abandoned villa in Cortona. A film based on the book was also made in 2003.

https://www.lanazione.it/arezzo/cronaca/cortona-effetto-grisham-il-bestseller-puo-diventare-anche-un-film-con-tom-cruise-e48735df

Suggestive Cortona, John Grisham's thriller in the Etruscan Village