An historic literary event: the publication of a newly discovered novel, the earliest known work from Harper Lee, the beloved, best-selling author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning classic To Kill a Mockingbird.
Originally written in the mid-1950s, Go Set a Watchman was the novel Harper Lee first submitted to her publishers before To Kill a Mockingbird. Assumed to have been lost, the manuscript was discovered in late 2014.
Go Set a Watchman features many of the characters from To Kill a Mockingbird some 20 years later. Returning home to Maycomb to visit her father, Jean Louise Finch – Scout – struggles with issues both personal and political, involving Atticus, society, and the small Alabama town that shaped her.
Exploring how the characters from To Kill a Mockingbird are adjusting to the turbulent events transforming mid-1950s America, Go Set a Watchman casts a fascinating new light on Harper Lee’s enduring classic. Moving, funny, and compelling, it stands as a magnificent novel in its own right.
Powerful, challenging companion-piece to MOCKINGBIRD There’s been a lot of controversy surrounding the publication of GO SET A WATCHMAN, which has been universally recognized as the first draft of what would eventually become Harper Lee’s magnificent TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD. WATCHMAN, written several years before MOCKINGBIRD, tells the story of 26-year-old Jean Louise Finch who returns to her childhood home of Maycomb, Alabama to visit her 72-year-old father, Atticus Finch. At first, the visit is bathed in the patina of memories and nostalgia -…
but I loved this novel for exactly what it is I came in skeptical, but I loved this novel for exactly what it is: a brilliantly written, beautiful southern novel about a young woman who discovers her father is not a god. And I’m angry that some pompous, patriarchal publisher squashed it and convinced her to write a brilliantly written, beautiful southern novel about a young woman who discovers her father is a god. WATCHMAN is about growing up, “killing the Buddha” and laying claim to one’s own world view.Â
The most disappointing thing? I can’t reject this If “Go Set a Watchman” had been published before “To Kill a Mockingbird,” it would have been meaningless. Tom Robinson’s trial would be just a vague incident in the Jean Louise’s memory instead of a culturally iconic scene. Atticus Finch would be his daughter’s fallen hero, but not ours. If “Watchman” had been first, we would only know Atticus as a segregationist and we wouldn’t care: he wouldn’t have been an ethical role model and a hero. There would be references to…