Publication planned for Prequel to Harper Lee’s Classic

Critics question the motives of attorney who handles author of “To Kill a Mockingbird”

By Milan Polk ’16

Every year, freshmen at Sherwood read “To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee, a classic in which a young woman recounts her childhood and remembers a court case that changed her hometown. In February, the media was in frenzy with the announcement that Lee is releasing a new novel, called “Go Set a Watchman,” the supposed prequel of “To Kill a Mockingbird” that she wrote in 1960.

The announcement of her newly published novel is drenched in controversy, though. Many people question if Lee herself actually wanted the prequel released after five and a half decades of silence, or if it was her attorney, Tonja Carter, who is looking to make money at Lee’s expense.

Lee, now 88, is well-known as a reclusive author who said that she would never publish again after “To Kill a Mockingbird.” Lee currently resides in her hometown of Monroeville, Alabama in an assisted-living home ever since a stroke in 2007 that left her almost blind and deaf. Harper Lee’s sister, Alice Lee, had protected the author’s estate until she passed away in 2014. Three months after Alice’s death, the manuscript was found by Carter, who now oversees all of Lee’s affairs, and states that the author is excited to see all of the hype about the long-lost manuscript. However, close friends of Lee’s worry about her recent decline in health and whether or not she is fully aware of the situation. They question Carter’s integrity and wonder if she is really looking out for Lee’s well-being.

It seems like book lovers everywhere have an opinion on the controversy. At Sherwood, some English teachers seem to have mixed emotions over the new novel. “It’s just very hard to figure out how much of this is Harper Lee pushing it, and how much is [Carter] just trying to make money,” said Beth Dibler, one of the ninth-grade English teachers. Dibler also said that her students had heard about the new book and asked for her opinion. “A lot of them asked if I’d heard and if I was excited about it. I had to tell them it was a sort of tempered excitement.”

This is not the first time Carter has been under fire. In 2011, author Marja Mills was given permission by Harper and Alice Lee to write a biography on Harper Lee and her book. She was even offered the chance to live next door to the two as she wrote. Before the book was published, however, Carter supposedly stopped Mills in the parking lot of Lee’s assisted-living facility to tell her that she believed Mills was taking advantage of Lee. Alice Lee also discovered that Carter had written a letter and gotten Lee to sign it, stating that she did not want the book published. Alice Lee ended up sending a letter of apology to Mills, whose book is set to be released in May of this year.

Ninth grade English teacher Brianna Russell believes that the newly released book will make “To Kill a Mockingbird” more exciting for students to read, who might have initially found it difficult to relate to because of its 1930s setting. “The hype of the new novel has made grabbing student interest this year for ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ much easier. It’s been harder and harder as time goes by for students to have a full grasp of a time that has been so far removed from them. My students are really excited.”  “Go Set a Watchman” is set for release this coming July.