“This biography will not disappoint those who loved the novel and the feisty, independent, fiercely loyal Scout, in whom Harper Lee put so much of herself.” —Garrison Keillor, The New York Times Book Review
An extensively revised and updated edition of the New York Times–bestselling biography of Harper Lee, reframed from the perspective of the recent publication of Lee’s Go Set a Watchman.
To Kill a Mockingbird—the twentieth century’s most widely read American novel—has sold thirty million copies and still sells a million yearly. In this in-depth biography, first published in 2006, Charles J. Shields brings to life the woman who gave us two of American literature’s most unforgettable characters, Atticus Finch and his daughter, Scout.
Years after its initial publication—with revisions throughout the book and a new epilogue—Shields finishes the story of Harper Lee’s life, up to its end. There’s her former agent getting her to transfer the copyright for To Kill a Mockingbird to him, the death of Lee’s dear sister Alice, a fuller portrait of Lee’s editor, Tay Hohoff, and—most vitally—the release of Lee’s long-buried first novel and the ensuing public devouring of what has truly become the book of the year, if not the decade: Go Set a Watchman.
“To every To Kill a Mockingbird reader, I send this message: The story isn’t over. There’s so much more to come, and you’ll find it all in Charles Shields’ delightful and insightful Mockingbird.” —Homer Hickam, #1 New York Times–bestselling author
“Lively, absorbing . . . If you treasure Scout, one of literature’s more endearing characters, you’ll like the woman who emerges in Mockingbird.” —The Miami Herald