When Harper Lee wrote “To Kill a Mockingbird”, no it did star Jennifer Lawrence in the movie, that was Mockingjay, not mockingbird. Gregory Peck stared in the 1962 film adaptation. The book itself was global hit, it taught us about the civil rights, the court system, and the morality of the south. It’s been read in the public school system from Middle School through High School. She won a Pulitzer Prize for her work in 1961 and a year later the film.
The new book of Harper Lee called “Go Set a Watchman” will be published on July 14, 2015, this is not a sequel to the book but a prequel of the book and not to be confused of the themes. Go Set a Watchman was written in the mid-1950s, before she wrote To Kill a Mockingbird, which was published in 1960. It was set aside when her editor suggested that she write another novel from the young Scout Finch’s perspective. The manuscript was then lost for many years, until being rediscovered by her lawyer in the fall of 2014. It will be published as originally written, with no revisions.
The novel, which was completed in the 1950s, is set 20 years after the events in To Kill a Mockingbird and follows an adult Scout Finch who travels from New York to Maycomb, Alabama, to visit her father, Atticus Finch where she reflects on the events of her youth.
Harper Lee said that she had originally written Go Set A Watchman first, but it was rejected by her editors who were more interested in the flashbacks contained in the novel. They persuaded her to write another novel from the point of view of the young Scout, which became To Kill A Mockingbird. The manuscript was believed to have been lost until Lee’s lawyer Tonja Carter discovered it. The novel contains some of the characters from To Kill a Mockingbird.
Would you read it?