Harper Lee's First Novel that is now her Second

Harper Lee is coming out with a second novel but in fact it is her first that the publishers rejected. I had read about how Mockingbird  was written with heavy input from her publisher. This is during the time when editors actually worked closely with writers to produce novels. But Harper Lee had actually written a first novel  and the editor rejected it and suggested she write the book from Scouts viewpoint.

If you read To Kill A Mockingbird the first part is really a series of interrelated stories while the second part is a fully integrated  novel. That first part I will bet came from this original manuscript the publisher rejected. Writers do that. They cannibalize the good out of one manuscript for something else. This then is the book that is coming out in July.

A lot has been written about why she is publishing this. The better question is why didn't Harper Lee ever write another novel. That is a more interesting question. The old wisdom said if you knock one out of the park then why ever do it again? That sounds good but it doesn't pertain to writers. Writers are people who write regardless of their success. Unless they cant.

The story I read about the writing of To Kill A Mockingbird had her describing a very difficult process of forging this novel. There was a lot of back and forth with her editor. Maybe she didn't know what to do after Mockingbird. It happens. Then the next question of WHY. Why now? Why bring out an old manuscript originally rejected by the publisher? It is not money. I think I read she makes 1.6 million off of royalties every six months.

Maybe she got tired of being the one trick writer. Or maybe, she believed the book had merit. And that it should have been published. Maybe the age of sequels or prequels in this case made her think it was alright to publish her first effort. We will never know why she published it, but in about five months we will find out if that editor was right to reject that book.

www.williamhazelgrove.com
The Pitcher

Harper Lee's Second To Kill A Mockingbird

Way back when I was trying to get a blurb from Harper Lee for my second novel, Tobacco Sticks. There was a man named Roy who answered the phone. I have put the book on Ms. Lee's beside table but I cant guarantee she will read it, he said. This went on for months. I would call and Roy would say. Well Ms. Lee is working her way through the stack. She never got to Tobacco Sticks. But of course I know now what she was doing. Writing another novel.

Go Set A Watchman. That is the title of Harper Lees second novel due out in July that predates her first To Kill A Mockingbird. Apparently this one didn't work out and the publisher prodded her into writing Mockingbird. The novel has now surfaced and coming our way in July. Who could  not be excited when the world had decided Harper Lee would be the ultimate one hit wonder along with JD Salinger and Margaret Mitchell. One smash masterpiece and game over.

But of course the world is complicated. Michael Jordan doesn't retire when he should. We live in a world of sequels and for whatever reason Miss. Lee has decided to put this very old manuscript. We have all loved Mockingbird and yes this book will not measure up. How could it? And then of course there is the old just be happy to have another Harper Lee book. I am good with that but then there are those Hemingway manuscripts.

Several books have followed his death and none of them have even been close to the books he put out when he was alive. Writers know which books are good and which ones don't work. Light in Africa and Islands in the Stream are poor substitutes for A Farewell To Arms and  For Whom The Bell Tolls. But again the manuscripts are there so why not bring them out.

So I will read it. Along with the millions. My only question is... did Harper Lee ever get to the bottom of her stack and read Tobacco Sticks?  Come to think of it, I wonder if Roy was lying to me.

www.williamhazelgrove.com
Tobacco Sticks
The Pitcher
 

Mockingbird Film at Fifty

If you read the book then the film follows. I always felt the book was better. To Kill A Mockingbird was just so rich in atmosphere and literary sugar that the film always seemed a bit awkward to me. Maybe it is hard for Hollywood to hit the mark on Southern stories. There is Gone with The Wind and then there is what...Cat on a Hot Tin Roof...or Mississippi Burning...but Mockingbird is Gregory Peck. No doubt. Atticus Finch became him or he became Atticus Finch. But once you saw the movie you were stuck with Gregory Peck in your head.

Scout always seemed a little tougher than the girl in the movie. Jem probably was right. Dill was Truman Capote...good luck with that one. Boo Radley was Robert Duvall. He was awful good looking for Boo but he did seem deranged. But the set never seemed to do the book justice. It just didn't conjure up that small Alabama town in the Depression. And again the novel exists apart in time so Hollywood can only do what it can with lights and sets and actors.

Of course the story set the bar. After Mockingbird there followed a whole rash of bad Southern sheriffs in small towns picking on African Americans and Northerner's. And lots of courtroom scenes in hot stuffy Southern towns. Well it's a great motif and in Mockingbird the blend of a child narrator and the adult story is dead on perfect. There would follow many child narrators set in Southern towns as well (see Tobacco Sticks) But there I go talking about the book again.

I am glad there is a Mockingbird film and I am glad there was a novel. When I tried to get Harper Lee to review my novel Tobacco Sticks, I spoke with a man Roy who said he put the book on her nightstand. She never read it. I am glad. There is really only one Southern novel of racial injustice that is resolved by a man of conscience. And only one film.

http://www.billhazelgrove.com/

Tobacco Sticks... Explosive racial tension  and a dramatic denouement in a sweaty Virginia courtroom are entwined in this haunting tale, which has all the characteristics of a good summer read. Publishers Weekly

Getting Harper Lee to Blurb my Novel

When I published my second novel, Tobacco Sticks, a friend said he thought Harper Lee might be amenable to giving me a blurb. He knew the man who took care of her, Roy, and said that I should just call up and see if she would read the book. So he gave me her number and I called and a  man with a deep Southern accent answered and said, yessssss. I introduced myself and told him I had sent a book to Ms. Lee and would she consider reading it. Roy said, well, I tell you, I will leave it on her nightstand when it arrives. Good enough.

Several weeks went by then several months. I called back and Roy answered. Yessss. I politely asked Roy if Ms. Lee had a chance to read my novel. Well, I tell you. Ms. Lee has been feeling a might poorly, but I have it by her bed on her nightstand and I will ask her if she has had a chance to read it yet. I thanked him and hung up. Another month passed and still no word. I sent another copy with a polite letter. Another month passed and I called again.


Yessssss. I asked Roy once more if Ms. Lee had a chance to read the book. Well, I tell you. She has just been so busy lately and is behind on her correspondence and letters. But I have put your other book on her nightstand and so she now has two copies of your novel there. I sat there in silence and then asked Roy if he thought she might ever read my book. Well, now, you never know do you? So I thanked him and hung up and my book went to press a month later without a Harper Lee quote.

I called Roy several months later. Oh yes. The books are still there and I think Ms. Lee will get to them soon. I hung up and wondered then if Roy ever put my book on Harper Lee's nightstand. But as Roy said, well now, you never know, do you?

www.billhazelgrove.com
Rocket Man will blast off this summer