Despite the success and recognition it received, Harper left NY and moved back to her hometown in Alabama where she maintained a very private life. Lee suffered a stroke in 2007 but recovered.
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The manuscript was an instant bestseller but its release sparked torrid speculation that she was not of sound mind and was mauled by critics who suggested she had tarnished her reputation. She was 89 years old.
This book cover released by Harper shows “Go Set A Watchman”, a follow-up to Harper Lee’s “To Kill A Mockingbird”.
Christopher Sergel adapted the book for the stage, premiering the piece in 1990 in Monroeville. While “To Kill A Mockingbird” detailed race relations in the South through the point of view of a child, “Watchman” featured the same characters but several years later. Lee has no living heir and Carter has managed her affairs for the past few years, increasingly so as the author grew more infirm late in her life, according to the New York Times. Originally written in the mid-1950s, Lee submitted “Go Set a Watchman” to her publishers before “To Kill a Mockingbird”.
She also regularly attended an annual luncheon at the University of Alabama to meet with the winners of a high school essay contest on the subject of her book. It won the Academy Award for best picture in 1963 while Gregory Peck, who played Atticus and would become Lee’s good friend, was named best actor.
Nelle Harper Lee was born April 28, 1926, in Monroeville, Alabama.
She counted author Truman Capote among her childhood friends, and worked as an assistant on his novel “In Cold Blood“, which examined a multiple killing in Kansas, and was dedicated to Lee. In steady prose shaded by memory and lyricism, she describes how an impulsive girl, Scout Finch, her older brother Jem, their friend Dill and a variety of other townspeople get caught up in the case of Tom Robinson, a black man who’s been accused of rape in the Depression-era town of Maycomb, Alabama. Although she’s accepted some major awards, like the Presidential Medal of Freedom, she declined to speak during the numerous ceremonies where she was awarded honorary degrees.
She won the Pulitzer Prize for Mockingbird, which went on to sell 40 million copies worldwide.
Despite unenthusiastic reviews and questions whether Lee was well enough to approve its publication, “Watchman” jumped to the top of best-seller lists within a day of its announcement and remained there for months.
At the time, her agent was forced to respond to reports suggesting Lee, then 88, was being taken advantage of over the publication of the book. In honor of the great author, who sadly died on February 19, we’re rounding up everything you need to know about her. Check it out here! Her mannerly, down-home approach undoubtedly smoothed the way for the flamboyant Capote.
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Harper Lee, one of America’s greatest modern authors, has died at the age of 89.
