If you’ve been paying attention to the news (and I don’t mean the book nerd news, I mean the regular news) at all in the last few weeks, you know that a new (well, not really, but new to us) book by To Kill A Mockingbird author Harper Lee is being published on July 14th by Harper (the publisher, not the author).
I’d venture to say that many people were probably required to read To Kill A Mockingbird in high school…well, except my husband apparently (he read Norton’s Anthology – yikes!). Despite that resounding success and a Pulitzer Prize (1961), Harper Lee never published another book (she is now 88 years old and, according to the AP, “nearly blind and deaf and lives in an assisted living center” in Monroeville, AL). So, needless to say, this story has rocked the book world.
I didn’t truly appreciate the magnitude of this story until I listened to Book Riot’s podcast on all things Mockingbird, Harper Lee, and Go Set A Watchman. If you have any interest in this story, this podcast is absolutely fascinating, got my brain spinning in all directions, and clearly inspired this post. If Podcasts aren’t your thing, check out Book Riot’s story covering much of what was discussed in the Podcast.
Quick Backstory on the Origins of Go Set A Watchman
Lee wrote “Watchman” first, the publisher said, describing how a grown-up Scout returns from New York to confront attitudes of the 1950s in her Alabama hometown. Her editor told her to write a different book, set 20 years earlier, describing Scout’s understanding of her father Atticus Finch’s legal defense of a black man wrongly accused of raping a white woman. – AP
So, Go Set A Watchman is technically a sequel (I guess?) to To Kill A Mockingbird, though it was written first.
Fascinating Tidbits I Learned from Book Riot’s Podcast:
- Harper (the publisher, not the author) plans to publish Go Set A Watchman as is, meaning there will be no editorial changes. Go Set A Watchman apparently did not undergo any editing at the time Lee wrote it.
- This means we’ll essentially be reading an original manuscript in book form. Pretty cool…you don’t get that opportunity every day. However, this also means there could be quality issues that would have been fixed during editing for a “regular” book.
- Only six people have read the book to date. That number is TINY!
- Harper Lee has a history of signing documents without reading them. This is important because there is some controversy about Lee’s mental capacity to make decisions and whether her “estate” is exploiting her or going against her wishes by publishing this book. The AP story lays out more background on this.
- Book Riot actually tried to come up with literary stories that, if they were to happen, could possibly top this one. What a fun game for book nerds! Here are two that Book Riot suggested and I’d love to hear your possibilities in the comments section:
- If J.D. Salinger is not, in fact, dead, but still living as a recluse (maybe faked his death to get even more privacy?).
- If George R. R. Martin (author of Game of Thrones) died before completing the series.
Questions I Still Have:
- Given the success of To Kill A Mockingbird, how/why did Harper Lee (and her editor, who clearly knew of Go Set A Watchman‘s existence) just do NOTHING with this “sequel” for over 50 years? Lee is notoriously private, which could explain her lack of action. But I would assume, at a minimum, that the editor would want to capitalize on the success of Mockingbird and would have done a lot to try to convince Lee to publish Go Set A Watchman.
- Is there no record of any discussion (involving Lee, the editor, or anyone else at the editor’s company) of Go Set A Watchman following the publication and success of To Kill A Mockingbird?
- Will the hype surrounding the story and sky-high expectations created by To Kill A Mockingbird cause people to be underwhelmed by Go Set A Watchman (particularly since it’s reportedly being published as is)?
- Is there a chance that something happens between now and July 14th that stops or delays publication? I don’t know enough about the inner workings of publishing to speculate on what, if anything, could cause a cancellation or delay…but, I’m curious.
- Given only six people have read the book to date, will the publisher release any ARC’s (Advanced Review Copies) or continue to keep this under lock and key?
I’m obviously going to read Go Set A Watchman out of curiosity if nothing else. And, I will probably re-read To Kill A Mockingbird before July since I don’t remember much about it from high school (I don’t even remember if I liked it or not…I’m sorry, Mrs. Oppenheimer, Mrs. Bishop, and Mrs. McGehee!!).
Are you planning to read Go Set A Watchman? Are you planning to re-read To Kill A Mockingbird first? What are your thoughts and questions about this whole shebang?
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Very thoughtful post, Sarah. You made some interesting points and raised some pertinent questions. Although I’d pay big bucks to get my hands on an ARC, I’m suspect about why this “sequel” was never published. And, I’ve always wondered why Lee never wrote anything else after To Kill a Mockingbird. There is a reason authors pay big money to have their novels edited. I may eat my words, but I can’t imagine this will be a smooth read. We will see.
I wonder about all those same things! I feel like there has to be more out there about what happened…beyond the editor’s note about going back to write a book about Scout’s childhood. Once that book took off, wouldn’t this other one have been revisited?! I do feel like the fact that Lee is so reclusive and media-shy does make the non-appearance of this book a little more believable than had this happened with a more accessible author.
Yes, I’m planning to re-read TKAM and yes, I’ll likely at least attempt GSAW and no, I’m betting there will be no advance copies. Last I heard the first run of the book will be 2 million copies. Seriously.
I don’t even know what to think about all this. There have always been lots of rumors and speculation about Harper Lee and why she was so reclusive. Years ago, I read Charles Shields book, MOCKINGBIRD, with a book group I moderated and then we had a call-in with him to discuss the book. He shared the whole Truman Capote/Harper Lee friendship story and how she assisted him as a kind of secretary while he researched for IN COLD BLOOD. There were lots of rumors then as well. Did he write ICB? Did she write part of it? Did he write TKAM or part of it? Yadda, yadda, yadda. It was all very interesting, but untimately, you just didn’t know. I suspect that will be the case here. And I am a little uncomfortable with thinking about her signing to publish this book, but if she is that impaired, someone must be overseeing her care. The attorney who “discovered” the book perhaps? Or maybe all this is being built up in order to generate interest in the book. Who knows? 🙂
Yes – 2 million was the first print run that I heard on Book Riot’s podcast. I wrote my high school junior year term paper on In Cold Blood and had totally forgotten about the Truman Capote friendship! I did not know about the rumors of “author switching” with ICB and TKAM…now that is some seriously juicy/interesting info! Will have to go Google that a bit!
The first thing my husband said when I told him this story was that “this whole thing is probably a big PR stunt”. Haha – you never know!
Great post!
I love To Kill a Mockingbird. It is one that I had to read in school but I reread it as an adult and revisited it three times when my three children had to read it in high school. It is probably in my top five all-time favorite books.
When this news broke, I was excited at first and then I was a little suspicious, like most people. Knowing that Ms. Lee has relished her privacy all these years and has been content to have the fame of the one book to her credit, makes it strange to consider that she suddenly wants to produce/release a long-lost other. The whole idea of it being “lost” all these years and recently rediscovered is REALLY hard to imagine. And the fact that she is suddenly willing to release it feels strange too.
But all that being said, heck yea I’m gonna read it and hope that this is the true desire of her heart that I do and not the result of someone taking advantage of her.
I guess there is no way we can truly know.
I agree that this is farfetched. On the podcast, they mentioned that the manuscript was found stuck between some pages of the original TKAM manuscript.
I’m totally speculating here, but I wonder if this change of heart has anything to do with the fact that she now likely doesn’t have much time left, so is thinking differently about her legacy? Also, rather than being “lost” and “rediscovered”, I wonder if someone else (maybe the lawyer in charge of her estate) “discovered” it and talked Ms. Lee into the value of releasing it. I would find it really hard to imagine that Ms. Lee actually forgot it existed…more that it just wasn’t in the forefront of her mind and she was content with her privacy and needed some convincing/strong-arming/whatever to make the leap to publication. I also put some stock into her reported history of not reading what she signs and not quite realizing what she was agreeing to…or at least not the full extent of it.
I agree with you that we’ll never truly know…
Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
As a former editor of 12 years, it is not exactly true authors “pay big money” to have their novels edited; in fact many authors would pay big bucks to publish their work without a stroke of dreaded red pen!! It’s the publishers who edit the books once they have acquired (and paid for!) them–or on occasion before they acquire them, but with the understanding a contract is forthcoming–and it is considered a vital part of the publishing process. Finding the right editor for each book is a complicated task, and sometimes even the editor who acquires a novel doesn’t end up editing it for a myriad of reasons.
It would be unfair/unethical to edit a work without a participating author and that is most likely why they are publishing “as is.” As to why it has been buried until now may never surface, but I think it’s a gift to the literary world that this is happening. Toe, whether it “lives up to the hype” is less important than what it can teach about a brilliant writer’s creative process and success.
Thank you so much for your insight! Definitely helps me understand the process and I can totally see how authors wouldn’t necessarily welcome the editing process. And – that’s a great point about the ethical issues associated with editing an author’s work without the participation of the author – I hadn’t considered that aspect of this.
I’m not advocating for the book to go through editing…I just think this will be something different and interesting given it hasn’t been edited. And, that’s also a great point about the window into the author’s process that it will give us.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
I suspect we may never have all our questions answered, but the buzz around this forthcoming book is exciting. I’m very curious about it and will have to read it, of course.
Sarah, I had no idea that only SIX PEOPLE have ever read this book; that is incredible! I have not had a chance to listen to the Book Riot podcast yet, but I fully intend to; I’ve already downloaded it, after you recommended it via Twitter. I think that I would like to re-read To Kill A Mockingbird before reading this one; you make a very interesting point, though, about the difference in an edited versus unedited piece of work. I’m curious to see how this is going to pan out! GAH! The suspense! I wonder, too, what else could happen between now and July…
I will most likely read this book out of curiosity, but I’m honestly not expecting much due to it lacking any edits. I guess if I don’t have any expectations, I may be pleasantly surprised if it is good. I’m already disappointed in the fact that it looks like they didn’t even bother to pick a decent cover because they knew it would sell without one 🙁 We shall see.
I’ve seen other people mention they were disappointed with the cover! I’m not a cover person b/c I read electronically so much, but I do think it looks like a lot of covers I’ve been seeing recently..heavy on text and light on artwork.
I think I need to re-read TKAM before forming any kind of expectations on this one since I don’t even remember if I liked it in high school or not! I do plan to re-read TKAM though…
I have heard about the hype but I’m not that interested, because how do you top a masterpiece?! If this one would have been released before I guess I would be OK with it, but after reading TKAM there’s no way this one is even close.
I’m guessing that academia will be all of this over the next couple of months–and likely certainly years. This is like a graduate or doctoral student’s dream! From what I heard she wasn’t aware of the manuscript until recently but that seems so…I don’t know the word I’m looking for…but to pour your heart into writing something and then setting it aside and never mentioning it again? It certainly is quite the puzzle.
I have to admit that I’m so disappointed in the cover. Guess it’s going for that minimalistic look, but it looks unfinished to me.
That’s an interesting take on it – hadn’t considered that angle!
I feel like there had to be other people out there who knew this existed…maybe they’ve all passed on at this point since she was so young when she wrote it, but wouldn’t at least family and friends know you’d written an entire book?! And that it would be hard to keep that secret after TKAM’s success? Maybe they’re just as tight-lipped as she is and were protecting her?
I don’t think we’ll ever really know, but it’s really interesting to think about…
This is such a fascinating topic. I don’t think we’ll ever know the true ins and outs of the deal. As for ARCs, perhaps they’d print a small batch to send to professional reviewers? I doubt that they’ll be sent to bloggers, but who knows! I like the news story of J.D. Salinger not being dead though…
I agree – I don’t think there’s any way bloggers get ARCs! The Salinger possibility definitely made me laugh, especially since I read My Salinger Year last year, which gives you great insight into his weird quirks 🙂
This beats the whole JK Rowling/Robert Galbraith flap a few years ago for getting the literary world in a tizzy, that’s for sure!
Some other possible literary news items:
Stephen King Announces release of author’s original uncut editions of all of his early novels (each over 1,000 pages long)
James Patterson’s co-authors reveal that Patterson has been writing his books entirely on his own but doesn’t want critics to think his books are no good just because he’s prolific