HUGE News: Harper Lee to release 'sequel' to TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD

In news just in here in Britain, it has been announced on the BBC that Harper Lee, author of the classic tale TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD, and long held up as the author who perhaps wrote the greatest single book, without ever writing another, will later this year release a 'sequel' to her masterpiece.

'Sequel' is in quote marks because it is a rediscovered manuscript that she actually worked on prior to TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD, including some of the same characters, but with Scout Finch as an adult returning to her hometown. As reported by the BBC, this 60-year-old manuscript was found by a friend of Lee's, and the author has said she was originally working on this but put it aside to write TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD, which arose from flashback scenes in this novel - to be called GO SET A WATCHMAN.

GO SET A WATCHMAN, which may become the most highly anticipated 'second novel' of all time, will be released on 14 July with a planned first print run of 2 million copies. I imagine they will have to reprint rather quickly.

In the six years I have been interviewing crime writer, I can say that TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD is one of the books that gets the most mentions from authors when I ask them about influences or their favourite and most memorable books from childhood. Crime writers such as Michael Connelly, Mark Gimenez and Shamini Flint, amongst others, have specifically mentioned it in 9mm interviews.

More to come on this amazing breaking news.

You can read the full BBC story, with quotes from Harper Lee and other information, here.