'Go Set A Watchman,' Sequel to 'To Kill A Mockingbird' By Harper Lee Is Released

Go Set A Watchman by Harper Lee, author of To Kill A Mockingbird, was released on Tuesday. It was the most preordered book on Amazon since the final Harry Potter book, proof of the huge amount of excitement surrounding the book's release. Midnight release parties were held as people hotly anticipated the first book in fifty years from Lee, and an apparent sequel to Mockingbird.

Watchman features the same characters from Mockingbird and is set twenty years after the events of the first book. However, Watchman was actually written before Mockingbird, back in 1957. Lee initially submitted Watchman to be published, but an editor told her to focus the story instead from the perspective of Scout Finch as a child.

To Kill A Mockingbird tells the story of young Scout and her family in Alabama in the 1930s. Scout's father, Atticus, is a lawyer and appointed to defend Tom Robinson, a black man accused of raping a white woman.

Atticus is typically revered as a strong, moral character for his care of his children and his defense of Robinson. Readers were shocked by Atticus' character in Watchman, which shows him in the 1950s as a racist who goes to Ku Klux Klan meetings.

This revelation shook many devotees of Mockingbird (particularly the fans of the movie). Atticus was an icon and inspiration for many, so to see him in this light is alarming. However, scholars have pointed out that there is actually a long-established analysis of Mockingbird that says that Atticus has always been racist.

The publication of Watchman came as a surprise for many. The manuscript was allegedly discovered by Lee's lawyer, though varying accounts of the discovery have been told, leading to suspicion from readers. Lee herself, who is 89-years-old and mostly deaf and blind, has not spoken directly about the novel. Lee's lawyer indicated this week that there may also be a third unpublished novel written by Lee, but nothing has been confirmed at this point.

Here was, Stacy, the first person on the UWS to purchase #GoSetAWatchman #BookCultureColumbus pic.twitter.com/oEr53MNlpz

— Book Culture (@bookculture) July 14, 2015