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 Until Tuesday when publisher Harper, an imprint of
HarperCollins, announced it would publish "Go Set a Watchman,"
on July 14, few knew the book existed and even its 88-year-old
author had thought it had been lost.
Written in the 1950s before Lee penned her masterpiece, it only
came to light after her lawyer discovered it in a safety deposit
box with the original manuscript of "To Kill a Mockingbird."
"How often does the publishing industry have the rare
opportunity to publish a second work of an author whose promise
was so great but who never completed a second project?" said
Khalil Gibran Muhammad, director of the New York Public
Library's Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture.
"To Kill a Mockingbird," a novel about racism and injustice in
the American South, became an instant best-seller and has since
sold an estimated 40 million copies worldwide. It was also made
into an Oscar-winning film starring Gregory Peck as the lawyer
Atticus Finch.
Although written first, "Go Set a Watchman," features Finch 20
years later as his adult daughter Scout returns to visit him in
the fictional town of Maycomb, Alabama.
Lee wrote "To Kill a Mockingbird" after her editor persuaded her
to write a novel from the point of view of a young Scout.
News of the second book comes just months after the death of
Lee's sister Alice, a lawyer who represented her interests for
decades. The timing has sparked questions about how much input
Lee, who suffered a stroke in 2007 and has difficulty hearing
and seeing, had in the decision to publish it.
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"I have questions and concerns, and I am not alone in those,
about her condition, her health," author Marja Mills said in an
interview.
"She has said to people earlier that she wouldn't go through all
the publicity of publishing another book for all the money in the
world."
When Mills wrote "The Mockingbird Next Door," a memoir about her
friendship with the sisters, Lee's lawyer issued a statement saying
it was not sanctioned. But Mills said she has a letter from Alice
Lee saying the statement was issued without her knowledge and both
sisters supported the book.
Lee's lawyer Tonya Carter, who negotiated the publishing deal, could
not be reached for comment.
Wayne Flint, a historian in Alabama and a friend of Lee, said he had
seen her recently and she was quite lucid but he knew nothing about
the manuscript.
"I don't think anyone would have done this without Nelle's full
knowledge and consent," he told the website AL.com, referring to Lee
as she is known to friends.
(Editing by Eric Kelsey and Richard Chang)
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