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Harper Lee's 1950's Sequel To "To Kill A Mockingbird" - Available July 14


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[Associated Press]

 

"To Kill a Mockingbird" will not be Harper Lee's only published book after all.

 

Publisher Harper announced Tuesday that "Go Set a Watchman," a novel the Pulitzer Prize-winning author completed in the 1950s and put aside, will be released July 14. Rediscovered last fall, "Go Set a Watchman" is essentially a sequel to "To Kill a Mockingbird," although it was finished earlier. The 304-page book will be Lee's second, and the first new work in more than 50 years. The publisher plans a first printing of 2 million copies.

 

"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."

 

Financial terms were not disclosed. The deal was negotiated between Carter and the head of Harper's parent company, Michael Morrison of HarperCollins Publishers. "Watchman" will be published in the United Kingdom by William Heinemann, an imprint of Penguin Random House.

 

According to publisher Harper, Carter came upon the manuscript at a "secure location where it had been affixed to an original typescript of 'To Kill a Mockingbird.'" The new book is set in Lee's famed Maycomb, Alabama, during the mid-1950s, 20 years after "To Kill a Mockingbird" and roughly contemporaneous with the time that Lee was writing the story. The civil rights movement was taking hold in her home state. The Supreme Court had ruled unanimously in 1954 that segregated schools were unconstitutional, and the arrest of Rosa Parks in 1955 led to the yearlong Montgomery bus boycott.

 

"Scout (Jean Louise Finch) has returned to Maycomb from New York to visit her father, Atticus," the publisher's announcement reads. "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 and returned to her hometown. According to the publisher, the book will be released as she first wrote it, with no revisions.

 

"To a lot of us in bookselling, 'To Kill A Mockingbird' remains one of our all-time favorite books and it sure is exciting to know we are about to learn more of the story," said Oren Teicher, CEO of the American Booksellers Association, the trade group for the country's independent stores.

 

"To Kill a Mockingbird" is among the most beloved novels in history, with worldwide sales topping 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 courageous attorney Atticus Finch. Robert Duvall, who played the reclusive Boo Radley in the movie, issued a statement Tuesday saying that the film was a "pivotal point" for him and he was "looking forward" to the new book.

 

Although occasionally banned over the years because of its language and racial themes, "Mockingbird" has become a standard for reading clubs and middle schools and high schools. The absence of a second book from Lee only seemed to enhance the appeal of "Mockingbird."

 

Lee's publisher said the author is unlikely to do any publicity for the book. She has rarely spoken to the media since the 1960s, when she told one reporter that she wanted to "to leave some record of small-town, middle-class Southern life." Until now, "To Kill a Mockingbird" had been the sole fulfillment of that goal.

 

"This is a remarkable literary event," Harper publisher Jonathan Burnham said in a statement. "The existence of 'Go Set a Watchman' was unknown until recently, and its discovery is an extraordinary gift to the many readers and fans of 'To Kill a Mockingbird.' Reading in many ways like a sequel to Harper Lee's classic novel, it is a compelling and ultimately moving narrative about a father and a daughter's relationship, and the life of a small Alabama town living through the racial tensions of the 1950s."

 

The new book also will be available in an electronic edition. Lee has openly started her preference for paper, but surprised fans last year by agreeing to allow "Mockingbird" to be released as an e-book.

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I never read the book but I saw the movie a long time ago.

 

Treat yourself and read the book in a quiet place when you have plenty of time. It's the finest novel I've ever read.

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I never read the book but I saw the movie a long time ago.

 

I thought everyone in an american high school since the 60s had to read it. read it now!

 

Somehow this was one that wasn't required. :)

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http://cdn.teamcococdn.com/jokes/87611/1,1/650/jokes/february-3-2015-the-author-of-to-kill-a-mockingbird-is-publishing-her-second-novel-after-a-55-year-hiatus-this-one-s-entitled-mockingbird-2-mock-harder.jpg
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Interested to see how this sequel turns out. I remember reading it in middle school, then taking a field trip to the courthouse where they filmed the movie to see a live performance of the trial scenes...Definitely one of those American classics that almost every school requires students to read at some point.
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Exciting! I can’t wait to read what kind of trouble Katniss gets up to in this one. Ah, book humor, I still got it.
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I hope it will be well recieved, heard a bit about it on NPR this morning and there seems to be some worry that she might be pushed to do this now that her sister is gone (was her agent/lawyer). I listened to TKMB on audio a few years ago and it was marvelous, I had forgotten a lot of the story from jr. high. Well worth reading.
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My daughter (a freshman in college) sent me an all caps text the day this was announced. She was giddy. Like many, TKMB is one of her favorite novels from her youth. She and I have agreed we will buy two copies and read it together and discuss it by Skype if she is not here and still in school (yeah, we are a nerd family).

 

(Former educator side note/opinion: TKMB became part of the middle/high school canon partly because it so nicely blended with American History courses in an era where block units were all the rage. The fact that it also happened to have a well done film adaptation only helped to fuel the use [insert commentary about the use of Hollywood as a crutch to get kids to understand a novel without actually having to read it here]. But, on its own, it is a widely respected novel for very good reason. It is well written and extremely socially/historically relevant. My hope is that this sequel will live up to the legacy of TKMB, both from a literary and "academic" stand point. My fear is that it will not and will somehow be used as a tool to get TKMB pulled from the canon.)

Edited by WorkingAllTheTime
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I still am having misgivings about this. Her attorney uncovers the manuscript and turns it into the publisher and they are now going to town with it. Meanwhile, Lee is almost completely deaf and visually impaired, residing in an assisted living facility. This doesn't sound right

http://www.wsj.com/articles/harper-lee-bombshell-how-news-of-book-related-to-to-kill-a-mockingbird-unfolded-1423270702

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Maybe it's just the way it was gone about, but the general consensus among myself and my friends is that we all actually couldn't stand the original, even though we all read quite often. I can't speak for others, but I love other classics like Frankenstein or Lord of the Flies or Robinson Crusoe, but something was just so dull about the whole ordeal.
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Maybe it's just the way it was gone about, but the general consensus among myself and my friends is that we all actually couldn't stand the original, even though we all read quite often. I can't speak for others, but I love other classics like Frankenstein or Lord of the Flies or Robinson Crusoe, but something was just so dull about the whole ordeal.

Mockingbird, like much of the required HS "canon", is way overrated, in my view.

 

Add the Crucible...the Scarlet Letter...Huck Finn...Gatsby to the list.

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the HS canon is based more on what these books have to say and what can be learned from these books, not so much on sheer enjoyability. I didn't enjoy the scarlet letter or the crucible at all in 10th grade, but I enjoyed the discussions that went along with reading them.
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I thought lord of the flies sucked though, so I must be crazy

I counter that. The issues in TKaM seem...overdone, but I loved the idea of stripping civility from children. It was fresh in all the ways Lee's book wasn't, in my opinion of course.

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Hell, I found Pride and Prejudice more interesting because of the setting and satirical wordplay. How odd is it that I was more interested in romance story than one filled with action? I just feel I can't leave my room without hearing someone say 'racism.'
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I thought lord of the flies sucked though, so I must be crazy

I counter that. The issues in TKaM seem...overdone, but I loved the idea of stripping civility from children. It was fresh in all the ways Lee's book wasn't, in my opinion of course.

TKaM all seems dreadfully obvious. These are different times, of course. I suppose it is adored as a classic and maintains its place among the "canon" exactly due to its obviousness, and its utility as a tool to teach instill a particular belief system in our youth.
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I thought lord of the flies sucked though, so I must be crazy

I counter that. The issues in TKaM seem...overdone, but I loved the idea of stripping civility from children. It was fresh in all the ways Lee's book wasn't, in my opinion of course.

TKaM all seems dreadfully obvious. These are different times, of course. I suppose it is adored as a classic and maintains its place among the "canon" exactly due to its obviousness, and its utility as a tool to teach instill a particular belief system in our youth.

 

mockingbird, along with 1984 and catcher in the rye, should come sold together in a "my first literature" starter kit for kids.

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I love Mockingbird completely. It is one of my top three favorite books of all time. I just got through reading The Mockingbird Next Door, a book that really gave me more insight into Harper Lee. All of this plus the recent doubts about her mental state have me in limbo. I was thrilled when I first heard of the new book, and now I almost feel disloyal when I consider reading it. Sigh.
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