“To Kill a Mockingbird”

    Descendent from Robert E. Lee, the Southern Civil War general Nelle Harper Lee was born in Monroeville, Alabama on April 28, 1926.

Father was a former newspaper editor who had served as a state senator and practiced as a lawyer in Monroeville. Mother suffered from mental illness (likely bipolar disorder) and rarely left the house

    Lee studied law at the University of Alabama from 1945 to 1949    Known for being a loner and individualist Attempted a social life – joined a sorority Editor of school newspaper Spent a year as an exchange student in Oxford University, Wellington Square. Six months before finishing her studies, she went to New York to pursue a literary career. Worked as an Airline reservation clerk with Eastern Air Lines and British Overseas Airways during the 1950s.

   In 1956, wealthy friends volunteered to support her for a year so she could write  Finished “To Kill a Mockingbird” in 1959 In 1959 Lee accompanied Truman Capote to Holcombe, Kansas, as a research assistant for Capote's classic 'non-fiction' novel In Cold Blood (1966).

“To Kill a Mockingbird” won a Pulitzer prize in 1961; film adaptation in 1962

     After “Mockingbird,” it was rumored Lee was working on a second novel, but it was never published During the 1970s and 1980s, Lee largely retreated from public life.

Lee spent some of her time on a non-fiction book project about an Alabama serial killer, which had the working title The Reverend. This work, however, was never published. Lee continues to live a quiet, private life in New York City and Monroeville. Active in her church and community, she usually avoids anything to do with her still popular novel.

   Setting – Maycomb, Alabama in the 1930s.

Characters  The Finch’s – Lee’s mother’s maiden name   Scout – representative of Lee as a child Dill – based on Truman Capote, Lee’s childhood friend Themes    Coming of age Loss of innocence Racism