A Civil Action.

• Author: Conniff, Ruth
• Position: Review - Brief Article

One of my very favorite books of the year is actually a few years old. But I'm sneaking it onto my list of best books on a technicality. A Civil Action, by Jonathan Harr (Vintage, 1995), will be made into a major Hollywood movie this year. John Travolta will play the flashy young lawyer, Jan Schlichtmann, who becomes an unlikely crusader against two of the biggest corporations in America. The companies are accused of poisoning the water in Woburn, Massachusetts, causing illness and the deaths of several children in the community. Schlichtmann is so drawn into the case he bankrupts himself and nearly goes insane battling the W.R. Grace Company and Beatrice, uncovering evidence in a story that unfolds like a thriller. Harr's edge-of-your-seat storytelling is so compelling, I could not bear to put the book down until I'd read to the end...