# Harper Lee to publish second novel in July



## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory/harper-lee-published-july-28687808

Betsy


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## MyraScott (Jul 18, 2014)

That is amazing.  It sounds like it is the original story that inspired "To Kill a Mockingbird."  So even though it's a sequel, it existed first.


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

Really, it's quite amazing!  Can't wait!

Betsy


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## alawston (Jun 3, 2012)

So even Harper Lee has decided that writing series is the way forward - she must have been reading Kboards


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## shaunduke (Feb 2, 2015)

Talk about pressure on a writer.  This book will be scrutinized to the extreme by so many different communities.  Academia will have a festival of folks writing about this new work in relation to her original novel.  It'll be crazy!


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## alawston (Jun 3, 2012)

There won't be any pressure on Lee - this novel was written first, and the publisher has said they intend to put it out with no revisions from the manuscript she completed all those decades ago.

I have a good friend who was once a highly regarded TV actress. On writing her first book at the age of 75, she said: "the thing is when you get to my age and people ask you about pressure, the honest answer is that I couldn't give a bugger!"


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## shaunduke (Feb 2, 2015)

That might be true.  I can only speak for myself.  That would put a lot of pressure on me; perhaps Lee would feel the same way, or perhaps not.


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## CRL (Nov 8, 2013)

I hope we don't find out later that the book was actually written by Andrew Neiderman......


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## MariaESchneider (Aug 1, 2009)

shaunduke said:


> Talk about pressure on a writer. This book will be scrutinized to the extreme by so many different communities. Academia will have a festival of folks writing about this new work in relation to her original novel. It'll be crazy!


Yeah, that was my thought. Written first, last or ever. Hard act to follow and bound to be panned by some just for the sake of panning!


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## shaunduke (Feb 2, 2015)

MariaESchneider said:


> Yeah, that was my thought. Written first, last or ever. Hard act to follow and bound to be panned by some just for the sake of panning!


I suspect it will be panned by a lot of people because they will have expectations that no writer could ever expect to meet, especially when the book in question was written decades ago. Totally unfair, but inevitable. Sort of like what happened with J.K. Rowling when she tried to write adult novels. Granted, the one w/ the pseudonym was supposedly very good.


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## Cuechick (Oct 28, 2008)

I just pre-ordered a copy for my Kindle!


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## EC Sheedy (Feb 24, 2011)

Cuechick said:


> I just pre-ordered a copy for my Kindle!


Me, too! I am looking forward to this and love the idea it is a prequel of sorts. Imagine that type-written manuscript languishing for so long in some bottom drawer/vault or somesuch. Ms. Lee is 88 years old, so I'm guessing she is both happy about this and somewhat bemused by it.

To me, it is wonderful event. Momentous, actually.


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## MyraScott (Jul 18, 2014)

CRL said:


> I hope we don't find out later that the book was actually written by Andrew Neiderman......


Or Truman Capote... actually that would be sort of cool.

(They were big friends.)


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## hamerfan (Apr 24, 2011)

Yay!
And thanks for the link, Cuechick.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

I wishlisted it.  If the price goes down some I might get it at release . . . . but $16 is high, to me, for an ebook.


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## alawston (Jun 3, 2012)

Oh dear... I was listening to BBC Radio 4 earlier and they referred to the book as "So Get a Watchman" and I was SURE that wasn't right...


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## shaunduke (Feb 2, 2015)

Ann in Arlington said:


> I wishlisted it. If the price goes down some I might get it at release . . . . but $16 is high, to me, for an ebook.


That is an absurd price for an ebook. They'll probably sell a lot of copies anyway, but I'm with you here. If I'm paying $16 for a book, I want the physical copy...


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

shaunduke said:


> That is an absurd price for an ebook. They'll probably sell a lot of copies anyway, but I'm with you here. If I'm paying $16 for a book, I want the physical copy...


Well, at this point I _don't_ want a physical copy. Unless I read it and decide it's something to have on my shelf.

OTOH, first editions of _To Kill a Mockingbird_ are worth a fortune now, so maybe a physical copy is a good idea.


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## hamerfan (Apr 24, 2011)

It's on my wish list too. I see it's come down to $13.59.
I hope it comes down a bit more.


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

On release day, TKAM was offered, later in the day, for a good chunk less than the preorder was.  Just sayin'.

Betsy


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

Disturbing speculation, here:
http://karenzach.com/exploitation-of-harper-lee/?utm_content=buffer988a6&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer

Hope it's not true.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

Yeah . . . saw that elsewhere . . . and have heard similar speculation as to her mental state and ability to make decisions.

I've also heard speculation that there might be a very good reason the original editor said, "hey, know what, skip this stuff about her grown up and flesh out the flashback part when she was a kid." In other words . . . it might not be that good a book.


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

Well, it was good enough that the editor thought there was a story to come from it...

To me, it doesn't really matter how good it is as a stand alone book, though of course it would be wonderful if it were wonderful; it's of interest as an earlier example of her writing; it's kind of the roots of TKAM.  It's of interest to me in the same way an artist's sketches or studies reveal things about a painting.

Lots of Louisa May Alcott's early writings have been released; they don't change the impact of Little Women.

Betsy


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## Daniel Harvell (Jun 21, 2013)

I'm pretty sure she could write complete gibberish and any publisher on the planet would still print the book - as long as her name is on it. The scandalous rumors surrounding the reasons for publication aside, this has to be the biggest publishing news in many years.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

Betsy the Quilter said:


> Well, it was good enough that the editor thought there was a story to come from it...
> 
> To me, it doesn't really matter how good it is as a stand alone book, though of course it would be wonderful if it were wonderful; it's of interest as an earlier example of her writing; it's kind of the roots of TKAM. It's of interest to me in the same way an artist's sketches or studies reveal things about a painting.
> 
> ...


Oh, I agree . . . . . as long as it doesn't completely suck it's worth publishing. And it's hard to imagine _that_ would be the case! 

And I guess even if it does completely suck, well, then we know why she was right to not do anything else all these years. 

That said, the whole situation 'puts the heart crosswise in you': on the one hand, YAY -- a new Harper Lee ; on the other, BOO* -- maybe she's not really in favor of its release and people she trusts are betraying her. 

*not Radley. 



Daniel Harvell said:


> I'm pretty sure she could write complete gibberish and any publisher on the planet would still print the book - as long as her name is on it. The scandalous rumors surrounding the reasons for publication aside, this has to be the biggest publishing news in many years.


Yep. That too!


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## DK Mok (Jan 3, 2015)

Betsy the Quilter said:


> It's of interest to me in the same way an artist's sketches or studies reveal things about a painting.


^ I think this is the reasoning behind releasing the manuscript without edits or rewrites. For me, this positions it as a behind-the-scenes, origin-story companion piece to TKAM, rather than a brilliant novel in and of itself.

I hope it's brilliant, and I hope even more that Harper Lee genuinely supports its release.


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## Linjeakel (Mar 17, 2010)

I'm leaning heavily on the side of her not really knowing or understanding what's happening. 

It's certainly goes against everything she's said in the past and, realistically, it seems more likely to me that she's been taken advantage of. It seems a little suspect to me that as soon as her sister - and the only person close to her who seems to have genuinely had her interests at heart - becomes ill and dies, suddenly there's an electronic version of TKAM, despite HL saying for years she didn't want one. Now there's another book, despite her saying it would never happen and if it did it wouldn't be with her blessing.

It honestly wouldn't surprise me if she hadn't even written it herself.  

When something seems too good to be true, it all too often is.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

Linjeakel said:


> I'm leaning heavily on the side of her not really knowing or understanding what's happening.
> 
> It's certainly goes against everything she's said in the past and, realistically, it seems more likely to me that she's been taken advantage of. It seems a little suspect to me that as soon as her sister - and the only person close to her who seems to have genuinely had her interests at heart - becomes ill and dies, suddenly there's an electronic version of TKAM, despite HL saying for years she didn't want one. Now there's another book, despite her saying it would never happen and if it did it wouldn't be with her blessing.
> 
> ...


I do think it's her book as described: original submission that was later re-written into TKaM.

But . . . yeah . . . it seems likely that she's not really clear on what's happening.


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## Leslie (Apr 7, 2008)

Linjeakel said:


> I'm leaning heavily on the side of her not really knowing or understanding what's happening.
> 
> It's certainly goes against everything she's said in the past and, realistically, it seems more likely to me that she's been taken advantage of. It seems a little suspect to me that as soon as her sister - and the only person close to her who seems to have genuinely had her interests at heart - becomes ill and dies, suddenly there's an electronic version of TKAM, despite HL saying for years she didn't want one. Now there's another book, despite her saying it would never happen and if it did it wouldn't be with her blessing.
> 
> ...


I agree with this. It all seems a little fishy to me.

L


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## Tony Richards (Jul 6, 2011)

On the other hand, writers are quite well known for suddenly changing their minds. It's a mentality that's fairly common to them.


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

Well, if I'm going to think that she wouldn't have changed her name about publishing _Watchman_, I have to think she wouldn't have changed her mind about ebooks either and that she was taken advantage of then, too, and apparently by her sister. (I thought the eBook was announced while her sister was still alive? EDIT: I bought the ebook in April 2014 and her sister died in November 2014.)

Or, I could think that she found life didn't change for her after the ebooks were published and so when someone suggested publishing _Watchman_, she decided she would go ahead and do it.

I agree there's a possibility someone is taking advantage. I also think perhaps at this point in her life she thinks it's no big deal one way or another. Or that she is actually excited. There are a lot of unanswered questions. If anything definitive comes out showing she was duped, I won't get it. Until then, I'm going to assume good faith. I'll feel bad, though, if she did approve it and now people start hounding her to verify it.

Anyway, if it's a plot, perhaps the NYTimes is in on it....

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/09/books/harper-lee-lawyer-offers-more-details-on-discovery-of-go-set-a-watchman.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/06/books/harper-lee-says-shes-excited-for-new-novel.html?_r=0

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2015/02/06/us/ap-us-books-harper-lee.html

Betsy


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## balaspa (Dec 27, 2009)

I was so excited when I first heard about this. I love the novel and just rewatched the movie a couple weeks ago. Now I'm worried. It appears that Ms. Lee is not really all that coherent any more and it makes me wonder if this was stolen and being done without her actual input and approval.


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## hamerfan (Apr 24, 2011)

I'm with Betsy on this one. I hope Ms. Lee was of sound mind and made the decision to publish this book. If anything definite comes out that some slimeball did it solely for greed, I'm stayin' away from it.


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

balaspa said:


> I was so excited when I first heard about this. I love the novel and just rewatched the movie a couple weeks ago. Now I'm worried. It appears that Ms. Lee is not really all that coherent any more and it makes me wonder if this was stolen and being done without her actual input and approval.


There seem to be as many people saying she's coherent, just deaf and with limited eyesight, as there are people saying she's not.... I have no idea which is true. I hope that she's behind it, and, until something definitive comes out, choose to believe she is.


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## Tuttle (Jun 10, 2010)

I'm hoping she's behind it, and thinking that whether the quality is that of TKAM or not, I would prefer reading it as a historical piece at the very least. It would be very sad however if it was someone taking advantage of her.


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

State of Alabama says Harper Lee was not coerced:

http://cir.ca/s/GyU


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## hamerfan (Apr 24, 2011)

A tip of the hat to Seamonkey for the heads-up:



is now $8.77 to preorder. 
I'm holding out, hoping it may drop a bit more.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

hamerfan said:


> A tip of the hat to Seamonkey for the heads-up:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Back up to $11.69 for me.


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## OnOneWheel (Jul 25, 2009)

Going for $16.99 in my wish list.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

OnOneWheel said:


> Going for $16.99 in my wish list.


Yep . . .back to $16.99 . . . . if you got the pre-order in when it was 8 something you won!


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## Tuttle (Jun 10, 2010)

Totally worth having pre-ordered it early $8.77 it is for me currently 

(I know I'll buy it eventually and it isn't $15 or over, that's what pre-orders are for.)


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## OnOneWheel (Jul 25, 2009)

May or may not be related but i noticed almost all of my HarperCollins wish list ebooks have taken a pretty good price increase.


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## Sever Bronny (May 13, 2013)

On my TBR pile now!


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