Harper Lee, author of “To Kill a Mockingbird” and “Go Set a Watchman” died at the age of 89.
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A spokeswoman for Harper Collins in NY said Lee passed away peacefully late Thursday. It did not give any other details about how she died.
“Like millions of others, I was saddened to learn this morning of the passing of Harper Lee, one of America’s most beloved authors”.
President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama says author Harper Lee was “a country girl who just wanted to tell an honest story about life as she saw it”.
While reading the book, I remember looking at the characters through the eyes of Scout, feeling for Atticus, eager about Boo Radley and hating their small town for the atrocities towards an innocent man. That was the power of Lee’s words-she could influence the world of a teenager.
FILE – In this January 10, 2007 file photo, Pulitzer Prize-winning Alabama author, Harper Lee, appears at the Davis Theater in Montgomery, Ala., for a performance adaptation of her book “To Kill A Mockingbird”, by Alabama high school students.
Lee is a Monroeville native who lived in NY in the 1950s and returned to her hometown.
Reporting also shows that, following the release of “Mockingbird”, when anticipation grew for another book from Harper Lee (which never came), she and the publisher did not consider “Watchman” a viable contender – though, of course, now it has reached the public’s hands.
Hollywood stars and directors, authors and publishing houses quickly took to social media to mourn the writer and celebrate one of the most important novels of the 20th century.
In her death, Lee leaves behind not just To Kill a Mockingbird’s lucrative legacy but now a second book, a Broadway play, and a new nonprofit that appears to be the umbrella under which all this has been organized. Watchman sold more than 1 million copies and was the third bestselling book on Amazon.com past year.
Which brings us back to Atticus Finch, Scout’s father and the soul of To Kill a Mockingbird. Lee did not publish another novel for more than five decades, and she refused almost every attempt by the press to speak with her. People who knew Lee best typically wouldn’t discuss her life out of respect for her wishes and fear of being shut out of a tight loop of friends. “She remained in good basic health until her passing”. “Her friendship was a gift to me, as were her stories, which I was honored to share with readers. Rest in peace Harper Lee”, said Rezaian in a tweet.
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HARPER LEE, Novelist: My reaction to it wasn’t one of surprise. “Is she gay?” reports the New York Times, in an interview with Lee’s biographer, Charles J. Shields.
