On Tuesday, Harper Lee announced to release a second book: the sequel to To Kill a Mockingbird.
According to an interview with ABC News, the Pulitzer-Prize winner’s newest novel, Go Set a Watchman, was originally written in the mid-1950’s before she wrote To Kill a Mockingbird. In a statement released early Tuesday morning, Lee claims to have written Go Set a Watchman when she was starting out as an author. The book is about an adult nicknamed Scout who returns to Maycomb to visit her father Atticus. Throughout the book, Scout has various flashbacks to her childhood in Maycomb.
Her editor decided that since Scout’s childhood was brought up a lot in Go Set a Watchman, Lee should write a book based on Scout’s point of view as a child; thus To Kill A Mockingbird was created. Because Lee became so caught up in her new book, her original story was forgotten and lost in time.
Now, over 50 years after the publication of To Kill a Mockingbird in 1960, Harper Lee is ready to release her lost novel.
“I was really excited when I heard she’d be releasing a new book. This is a really cool event,” said Rebecca Dupree, a junior here at Leesville.
Harper’s new book, according to the publishers announcements, will still take place in Maycomb where Jean Louise Finch (Scout) returns from New York to visit her aging father Atticus. Here, Scout will have 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.”
“I know there are a lot of same characters in the new book, but I hope to see the development of Scout beyond her younger years,” Dupree said when asked what she expects and hopes to see in the new book.
Mr. Brennan, Leesville English teacher, said, “[I am] surprised and skeptical at first. Now that I know it’s legit, I am excited and look forward to reading it.”
Mr. Brennan also hopes to learn more about Scout, and she what she is like as an adult.
According to ABC News’ interview, Go Set a Watchman is set to be released sometime in July.
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