The author shared in a new note that he and his wife first visited Paris after the success of his 1991 legal thriller, ‘The Firm’
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NEED TO KNOW
Key Takeaways
- John Grisham and his wife are getting close in Paris
- The author shared in a new note that he and his wife first visited Paris after the success of his 1991 legal thriller, The Firm
- Grisham often incorporates feedback from his wife Renee, including rewriting endings and adding thousands of words to drafts
Bestselling author John Grisham is keeping close to his wife in the City of Light.
In a carousel of images shared to Instagram, the 71-year-old author could be seen with Renee sitting at a sidewalk café in Paris and visiting the Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris.
“Like millions before us, and after, we fell in love with Paris and have returned many times,” reads the caption on the image, which directed fans to the author’s latest note to readers, in which he shares “how years of visits to Paris helped inspire the setting” of his upcoming novel, The French Illusion.
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Per the note to readers, Grisham is finishing up edits on the book, and the book is expected to be published in the fall.
Grisham went on to explain how he and Renee first visited Paris after the success of his 1991 legal thriller, The Firm, which was later made into a feature film starring Tom Cruise.
“When A Time To Kill was published in 1989, its reception was rather low-key, to put it mildly,” Grisham wrote. “There was no second printing, no paperback, no mention of foreign translations. Hollywood never called. However, when The Firm arrived 18 months later, things were far different.”
Following the book’s success, the couple opted to visit Paris. Grisham wrote that after selling the U.S. and U.K. rights, his agent took the book to Europe, where it was well received. He and Renee watched in disbelief as the Germans, French, Italians, Spanish and Portuguese lined up to buy the translation rights. Then Scandinavia, then Asia. By the end of 1990, they had contracts to publish the book in 30 languages.
He had never been to Europe and couldn’t wait to see Paris, opting to view it through the eyes of writers before him, like Ernest Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald.
“We found their old haunts, had coffee and drinks in their favorite bars, enjoyed long meals in the same timeless bistros, and spent hours on the sidewalk cafes of Boulevard St. Germain,” he wrote. “We also visited the famous sights, poked around galleries and museums, and roamed the streets for hours. Like millions before us, and after, we fell in love with Paris and have returned many times.”
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Grisham has spoken openly about how he often takes his wife’s suggestions when he’s writing one of his thrilling crime novels.
In a 2025 appearance on CBS Mornings to speak about his book, The Widow, the author explained how the story came together quickly — but Renee gave him a piece of advice that resulted in him adding more than 25,000 words to his final draft.
“I finished the book at the end of last year and I had a really clever ending,” Grisham told the CBS hosts. “I was done with it and then [my wife Renee Jones] read the ending and she said, ‘Hey buddy, this ain’t working.’ “
He continued: “I said, ‘Okay, I’ll show you.’ I sent it to the editors in New York and they all said, ‘Hey, this is not going to work.’ And so I kept writing.”
“I took their advice, as I always do, when they gang up against me,” Grisham added. “I can’t argue with all of them, especially Renee. … I wrote 25,000 more words and a new ending. I did not know the ending when I started, and I’m very pleased with it now.”
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