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I was taken aback this morning when I heard the news that Harper Lee, who had only published one novel, the classic To Kill A Mockingbird, will have a second book published. It is based upon the great character Scout twenty years after her childhood which depicted in the book.
At first I thought, "On, no". I had reservations about Harper Lee, who has always been a recluse, had decided to write another book as she aged. (Today she is 88.) Not only could it tarnish one of the greatest books of all time, but I was worried that her skills might have been diminished since her 1960 debut.
Then, however, I really got interested when I learned her "new" book was actually written before Mockingbird. That's a big "wow". She had submitted it to publishers who told her that Scout's flashbacks to her childhood were really, really good and a book could be based on that alone. Thus, Mockingbird was born and the first proposed book was shelved.
Later in the day, however, news began to leak that something might have be amiss. Lee today is almost incapacitated and described as senile. But here's the kicker: Her fiercely protective sister, friend and lawyer for all of her life died two and one-half months ago. So, are we to believe the "new book" just now happens to be have been "discovered" and Lee wants to publish it after refusing to do so for decades?
