‘Mockingbird’ sequel coming

Harper Lee, who never published another novel after her Pulitzer-winning “To Kill a Mockingbird,” will have a second novel in July with the same characters that she wrote before she put together her classic novel.

Harper Lee

 “Go Set a Watchman” was completed in the mid-1950s and is set 20 years after “To Kill a Mockingbird.” Scout Finch, the feisty child heroine of “To Kill a Mockingbird,” returns to visit her father, Atticus.

Her editor at the time was taken with Scout’s childhood flashbacks and told her to write a different novel from Scout’s perspective.

“I was a first-time writer, so I did as I was told,” Ms. Lee, 88, a native of Monroeville, Ala., said. So she wrote “Mockingbird,” which became a 1962 movie starring Gregory Peck as attorney Atticus. Mary Backham played Scout, Robert Duvall was savior Boo Radley and Brock Peters was Tom Robinson, falsely accused of raping a white woman. 

The line in the film that brings chills to me every time is: "Stand up, children, your father's passing." That said a ton about showing respect.

Ms. Lee suffered a stroke in 2007 and has been living in an assisted living facility.