Essentially a sequel to Lee’s masterpiece To Kill a Mockingbird, this second novel Go Set a Watchman will be published on July 14. The 304-page book will be Lee's second, and her first new work in more than 50 years.
Harper Lee completed the novel Go Set a Watchman in the 1950s but left it aside. A first printing of 2 million copies is promised by her publishers Harper. "In the mid-1950s, I completed a novel called Go Set a Watchman," the 88-year-old Lee said in a statement issued by her publishers.
"It features the character known as Scout as an adult woman, and I thought it a pretty decent effort. My editor, who was taken by the flashbacks to Scout's childhood, persuaded me to write a novel (what became To Kill a Mockingbird) from the point of view of the young Scout.
"I was a first-time writer, so I did as I was told. I hadn't realised it (the original book) had survived, so was surprised and delighted when my dear friend and lawyer Tonja Carter discovered it. After much thought and hesitation, I shared it with a handful of people I trust and was pleased to hear that they considered it worthy of publication. I am humbled and amazed that this will now be published after all these years."
The new book is set in Lee's Maycomb, Alabama, during the mid-1950s. The civil rights movement was taking hold by the time she was working on Watchman.
"Scout (Jean Louise Finch) has returned to Maycomb (Alabama) from New York to visit her father, Atticus," the publisher's announcement reads, summarising the plot. "She is forced to grapple with issues both personal and political as she tries to understand her father's attitude toward society, and her own feelings about the place where she was born and spent her childhood."
Lee herself is a Monroeville, Alabama native who lived in New York in the 1950s. She now lives in her hometown. According to the publisher, the book will be released as she first wrote it, with no revisions.
To Kill a Mockingbird has to date sold over 40 million copies. It was released on July 11, 1960, won the Pulitzer Prize and was adapted into a 1962 movie of the same name, starring Gregory Peck in an Oscar-winning performance as the attorney Atticus Finch.
Here's what people have been saying on social media. Many folks clearly thought Harper Lee was a man, until they saw the photographs.
To Overkill A Mockingbird. #HarperLee
— Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) February 3, 2015
First time I read To Kill A Mockingbird in college, it had such an effect that I was genuinely upset at my high school for not teaching it
— Logan Smith (@LoganJames) February 3, 2015
Harper Lee (the author of my childhood/GCSE's) is going to publish a sequel to, To Kill a Mockingbird. Never been so excited in my life 😁
— M A J I D (@Majid_K_1994) February 3, 2015SO happy Harper Lee's publishing a new book! To Kill A Mockingbird was transformational, eye opening, taught me abt in/justice at age 10
— LivHealth (@Liv_Health) February 3, 2015Watch a clip from the movie To Kill A Mockingbird
