Harper Lee, author of one of the world’s most treasured books, To Kill A Mockingbird, has announced that she will be publishing a sequel to the classic later this year. 55 years after her first and only novel was published, Go Set A Watchman will be available on 14th July 2015.
The sequel will feature characters Scout and Atticus Finch. Following Scout twenty years on from the ending of To Kill A Mockingbird, the story will see Scout returning to her father in Alabama and grappling “with issues both personal and political”.
In a statement, Lee, now 88, explained that Go Set A Watchman was actually written before To Kill A Mockingbird, but that her editor persuaded her to write a whole book based on Scout's childhood, after enjoying the flashbacks featured in the story about an adult Scout.
Lee also confessed that she thought Go Set A Watchman was gone forever, and that the book was only found recently. “I hadn’t realised [the book] had survived, so was surprised and delighted when my dear friend and lawyer Tonja Carter discovered it” Lee said. “I am humbled and amazed that this will now be published after all these years.”
Go Set A Watchman will have a first printing of two million copies. The sequel is sure to be a huge success after To Kill A Mockingbird’s worldwide sales of over 40 million.
Want to refresh your memory of the classic novel? You can watch a clip from the film adaptation of *To Kill A Mockingbird
*below...