Harper Lee to publish her first novel in 50 years

Lee’s privacy, and the fact that she chose to end her literary career after the success of To Kill A Mockingbird, has always made her an object of curiosity. She made news last summer, when Chicago Tribune reporter Marja Mills published Lee’s biography amid controversy of whether the book was authorized. At the time, Lee said she was “hurt, angry and saddened, but not surprised” to learn that Mills was going to press with the book.

Go Set A Watchman will be published on July 14, 2015, by Harper Collins. In the book, Scout returns to Maycomb, Alabama, to visit her father, Atticus Finch. The publisher calls it “a compelling and ultimately moving narrative about a father and a daughter’s relationship, and the life of a small Alabama town living through the racial tensions of the 1950s.” Lee calls it “a pretty decent effort.”