Well, here’s a shocker. Some 55 years after the publication of her Pulitzer Prize-winning classic, Harper Lee is set to release her second novel, a sequel to To Kill a Mockingbird entitled Go Set a Watchman.
“In the mid-1950s, I completed a novel called Go Set a Watchman,'” said Lee in a statement released today. “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 realized 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 official description of the book from publishers HarperCollins reads: “Scout (Jean Louise Finch) has returned to Maycomb from New York to visit her father, Atticus. 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.”
Published in 1960, To Kill a Mockingbird is rightfully regarded as a classic of American literature, and has sold over 30 million copies, as well as spawning a feature film adaptation in 1962.
Go Set a Watchman will be published on July 14th this year.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Uw-ajjKJpac&list=PL18yMRIfoszH_jfuJoo8HCG1-lGjvfH2F
Originally published February 3, 2015. Updated April 13, 2018.
