Sequel to Harper Lee's "To Kill a Mockingbird" to be Released and Some Question Publisher's Motivation

With news of Harper Lee releasing a sequel to her pivotal novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, flying all through the media, many have begun to ask why the long-awaited novel is being published now, more than 50 years after the prolific "Mockingbird" was released.

Lee’s new novel, Go Set a Watchman, isn’t actually new at all. It was written in 1950, before To Kill a Mockingbird, although technically, it will be a sequel. The story brings back Scout and Atticus some 20 years after the time of the first book. Scout returns to Maycomb, Alabama from her home in New York City to settle unfinished business with her family and her town.

"In the mid-1950s, I completed a novel called Go Set a Watchman," Lee said in a statement issued by Harper. "It features the character known as Scout as an adult woman, and I thought it a pretty decent effort. My editor, who was taken by the flashbacks to Scout's childhood, persuaded me to write a novel (what became To Kill a Mockingbird) from the point of view of the young Scout."

However, some believe that new novel is a product of money-hungry publishers taking advantage of the 88-year-old Lee, who is said to be blind, deaf and in poor health. Lee’s sister, Alice, was known to be fiercely protective of her work and estate but she passed away a couple of months ago. Now, many hope the production of the new book isn’t praying upon the vulnarable Lee. In an interview with the The Associated Press, HarperCollins publisher Jonathan Burnham said he was "completely confident" Lee was fully involved in the decision to release the book.

By Tuesday afternoon, Go Set a Watchman was in the top 10 on barnesandnoble.com, representing a flood of preorders in just a few hours. The novel is due out on July 14.