“I never expected any sort of success with
‘Mockingbird’ . . . I sort of hoped someone
would like it enough to give me encouragement.”
Harper Lee

At the beginning of January I read a book that was on my 100 books to read list. I also read this book because I had watched the movie when I was a young girl and it left an everlasting impression on me. That book and movie was To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee.

Mockingbird, a precocious child’s-eye view of race, justice and the mysterious ways of Southern life, was a mammoth critical and commercial hit when published in the summer of 1960. It sold 500,000  copies in its first year of publication, won the Pulitzer Prize and became an indelible part of American culture.

Shortly after reading Mockingbird, I wrote a post on January 13th Read Around the World. At the time of my post, the world had no idea that Harper Lee had written a second novel. After the world heard the news about her new second novel, Go Set A Watchman which was released yesterday, all of us avid readers cannot wait to get our hands on this book. The book that was written in 1957 and is the parent book to, To Kill A Mockingbird.

If Lee’s new book doesn’t live up to the old one, then we can choose which one we prefer. All of us bloggers, as writers, can only dream of having the same impact with our readers that Harper Lee has had on the world.  The impact of her novel which moved so many of us is the enduring legacy of Harper Lee.

Shine On