Harper Lee to publish Mockingbird sequel

Harper Lee was advised by her editor to put aside her second novel some 60 years ago.

Publishers Harper Collins said that "Go Set a Watchman" is in many ways a sequel to "To Kill a Mockingbird" and features many of the same characters around 20 years later, including Scout.

As a grown woman, she returns to visit her father, lawyer Atticus Finch, in the fictional town of Maycomb in the mid-1950s where "she is forced to grapple with issues both personal and political as she tries to understand her father's attitude toward society, and her own feelings about the place where she was born and spent her childhood," the publisher said.

"I hadn't realized it had survived, so was surprised and delighted when my dear friend and lawyer Tonja Carter discovered it," the 88-year-old author said in a statement on Tuesday.

"After much thought and hesitation, I shared it with a handful of people I trust and was pleased to hear that they considered it worthy of publication."

"I am humbled and amazed that this will now be published after all these years," she added.

In 1961 Lee won the Pulitzer Prize for "To Kill a Mockingbird," which tells the story of race and growing up in Alabama in the 1930s.

Published shortly after the dawn of the US civil rights movement, the novel has sold more than 40 million copies worldwide. In 1962 the book was also adapted into a film starring Gregory Peck who won an Academy Award for his role as Atticus Finch.

"This is a remarkable literary event," said HarperCollins publisher and senior vice president Jonathan Burnham.

"The existence of 'Go Set a Watchman' was unknown until recently, and its discovery is an extraordinary gift to the many readers and fans of 'To Kill a Mockingbird'," he added.

Since its release in 1960, "To Kill a Mockingbird," has become staple reading material in high schools both in the States and in classrooms around the world.

ksb/rc (Reuters, AP, AFP)