Author Harper Lee will publish her second novel, more than 50 years after the release of her Pulitzer Prize-winning work ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’.
In a twist worth of a literary tale, the manuscript for ‘Go Set a Watchman’ was written in the mid-1950s, but was set aside and lost.
Ms Lee was surprised when her friend and attorney, Tonja Carter, unearthed it.
“It features the character known as Scout as an adult woman and I thought it was a pretty decent effort,” she said.
“My editor, who was taken by the flashbacks to Scout’s childhood, persuaded me to write a novel from the point of view of the young Scout.
“I was a first-time author, so I did what I was told.”
‘To Kill a Mockingbird’, the story of race and growing up in the southern US state of Alabama in the 1930s, was based loosely on Lee’s own experiences.
It was published in 1960 in a climate of growing awareness of civil rights, and became required reading in many American schools.
More than 30 million copies have been sold worldwide.
‘Go Set a Watchman’ is expected to be published in July.
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