AP/Rob Carr
Fifty-five years after publishing the much-beloved classic To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee will release her second book this July. The previously unpublished novel is a follow-up to the 1960 Pulitzer Prize-winning book. From the Associated Press:
“In the mid-1950s, I completed a novel called ‘Go Set a Watchman,'” the 88-year-old Lee said in a statement issued by Harper. “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 304-page manuscript was discovered at a “secure location,” according to Harper. Go Set a Watchman will be the notoriously recluse author’s first new work in decades.
