Countdown starts for ‘Watchman’
Preorders of Harper Lee novel set record as countdown begins
Harper Lee’s “Mockingbird” sequel, out July 14, sees record preorders.
Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee, one of the most anticipated books in recent memory, arrives July 14 to record preorders, intense curiosity and Harry
Potter- style enthusiasm among booksellers.
And why not? This is only the second book by the reclusive author of the beloved 1960 Southern classic To Kill a Mockingbird, which has sold 40 million copies worldwide.
HarperCollins says Watchman is the most preordered book in company history. The publisher plans a first printing of 2 million hardcover copies under its Harper imprint (there also will be an e-book). The book is embargoed and tightly held by the publisher.
“We never thought we’d be publishing another book by Harper Lee,” says Tina Andreadis, senior vice president of publicity for HarperCollins. “This amazing discovery has created such incredible interest.”
In February, the publisher announced that the Watchman manuscript, long thought lost, had been found by Lee’s lawyer. Lee wrote the book in the 1950s; it features Mockingbird’s Scout Finch as an adult. At her editor’s urging, Lee instead turned to the Depression-era story of Scout as a child; her lawyer-father, Atticus; and a racially inflamed rape trial in a small Southern town.
Charles J. Shields, author of the biography Mockingbird: A
Portrait of Harper Lee, has not read Watchman, but he believes “it’s the first draft of To Kill a
Mockingbird.” What should readers expect? “I will be grateful if Go Set a Watchman is another 20th-cen
tury Huck Finn, like To Kill a Mockingbird was. But as a literary biographer, that’s just not what I’ve seen,” Shields says. “First ef- forts tend to be ugly babies.”
But Shields also says the new novel — arriving during emotional debates over the Confederate battle flag and race relations — “couldn’t be better timed.”
Booksellers certainly are celebrating. Barnes & Noble stores nationwide are sponsoring Mock
ingbird read-a-thons on July 13 and will open at 7 a.m. July 14 for early birds.
Many independent stores are planning their own special events; R.J. Julia in Madison, Conn., for instance, also will open early on July 14.
Lee, who has stayed largely out of the public eye since the 1960s, is 89 and will not be giving interviews or making appearances. Despite earlier questions about her health, Lee is “doing well” and “has been a participant in the publication process,” even choosing the image for the jacket, Andreadis says.
“The book is going to really speak for itself,” Andreadis says. “I think people are just going to love to be back in her world again.”
At amazon.com, print and digital preorders are strong, says editorial director Sara Nelson. Nelson is as eager as anyone to read the new novel.
“Like about a gazillion other people, I love To Kill a Mocking
bird and can’t wait to see how the new book will fit with it,” she says. “It’s a tough act to follow, for sure, but I think fans of To Kill a
Mockingbird will find it fascinating, no matter what.”