”Misslyckad utgivning utplånar inte Lees rykte”

Nelle Harper Lee, född 28 april 1926 i Monroeville i Alabama, är en amerikansk författare. Hon är mest känd för romanen Dödssynden (To Kill a Mockingbird, 1960), som i mer än 50 år var hennes enda publicerade roman. Hon har fått Pulitzerpriset för skönlitteratur och och Frihetsmedaljen av George W. Bush. Dödssynden räknas som en modern klassiker. Den har bland annat röstats fram som århundradets bästa roman i Library Journal. År 1962 filmatiserades den. På svenska fick filmen titeln Skuggor över Södern. Harper Lee ger aldrig intervjuer, talar inte med läsare och lever ensam i sin hemstad Monroeville, Alabama. Hon var barndomsvän till Truman Capote, som också tros vara inspirationen till karaktären Dill i romanen Dödssynden. Femtiofem år efter debuten publicerades Harper Lees andra roman Ställ ut en väktare (Go Set a Watchman, 2015).

Go Set a Watchman is a novel by Harper Lee published on July 14, 2015, by HarperCollins in the United States and William Heinemann in the United Kingdom. Although written before her first and only other published novel, the Pulitzer Prize-winning To Kill a Mockingbird—and initially promoted by its publisher as a sequel—it is now more widely accepted as an earlier draft. The title comes from Isaiah 21:6: "For thus hath the Lord said unto me, Go, set a watchman, let him declare what he seeth." It alludes to Jean Louise Finch's view of her father, Atticus Finch, as the moral compass ("watchman") of Maycomb, and has a theme of disillusionment, as she discovers the extent of the bigotry in her home community. The book's unexpected and controversial discovery, decades after it was written, together with the exceptional eminence of the author's only other book—an American classic—caused its publication to be highly anticipated; Amazon stated that it was their "most pre-ordered book" since Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows in 2007, and stores arranged all-night openings from midnight to cope with expected demand. According to the publisher, Go Set a Watchman, "...tackles the racial tensions brewing in the South in the 1950s and delves into the complex relationship between father and daughter." It includes versions of many of the characters who appear in To Kill a Mockingbird.