‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ Author Harper Lee Releasing Second Book

To Kill a Mockingbird author Harper Lee is planning to release her second book this summer, 55 years after making her debut as a novelist.

Lee’s Go Set a Watchman was actually written before her acclaimed debut, which became a literary sensation, but it’s only now the author believes it’s good enough to be published.

The reclusive Pulitzer Prize-winning writer says, “In the mid-1950s, I completed a novel called Go Set a Watchman. 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.”

Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird has sold over 40 million copies. It was released in July, 1960.

Photo Credit: J. B. Lippincott & Co.