Scout grows up

Go Set a Watchman. By Harper Lee. Harper; 278 pages; $27.99. William Heinemann; £18.99.

FOR more than half a century “To Kill a Mockingbird” has been revered as a literary classic, the story of Scout and Jem Finch, a young sister and brother (and their naughty friend, Dill Harris, based on Truman Capote) who are all trying to make sense of the bewildering, bigoted American South in the 1930s. The novel sold 40m copies, won a Pulitzer prize and was made into a much-loved film, starring Gregory Peck as the siblings’ father, Atticus Finch, a heroic white lawyer who defends a black man accused of raping a white woman. Its fame was enhanced by the way the author, Harper Lee, who was only 34 when the book came out, reacted to becoming famous. Now 89 and living in a home, she has refused all requests for an interview.

For decades it was thought that Ms Lee had written nothing else. But in 2014 her lawyer, Tonja Carter, discovered an unpublished manuscript titled “Go Set a Watchman”. The book was released on July 14th with simultaneous editions translated into seven languages. Five months of teasers from her publishers ensured it was the publishing moment of the year, with early orders approaching Harry Potter levels.

The novel is being touted as a sequel to “Mockingbird”, but it would be truer to call it an early prototype....

from The Economist: Books and arts http://ift.tt/1Mwk2cb