The often-staid world of literature is reeling from the news that Harper Lee, the American author who wrote the classic "To Kill A Mockingbird" will publish a second novel….more than 50 years after her first.
More than 2 million copies of the book - a sequel to the original - will roll off the presses this July.
But the book isn't exactly new.
It was written in the 1950s, and the manuscript has only recently been rediscovered.
Our US Correspondent Simon Marks reports.
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In the world of E-Books and Kindles….it takes quite a lot to create what is widely being described here as a "literary bombshell".
But that's what exploded with the news that "To Kill A Mockingbird" will not be a one-hit-wonder for author Harper Lee after all.
For decades is has been an iconic classic of modern American literature….a Pulitzer Prize winner that was published in 1960 and became required reading for generations of school children here and around the world.
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It was also turned into an Oscar-winning film in which Gregory Peck played "Atticus Finch", the lawyer with a social conscience who defends a black man in the Deep American South against charges that he raped a while child.
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The book and the film became iconic artifacts from America's battle against racial inequality.
But its author Harper Lee virtually disappeared from sight.
Notoriously private and reclusive, she r.wrote very occasional essays….turned down virtually all interviews…. made hardly any public appearances….and evinced no interest in a follow-up to her first huge hit.
Then came the news that the aging manuscript for "Go Set A Watchman" - the second book that will be published this summer - had been found stapled to the back of a rare first edition of "To Kill A Mockingbird".
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TRX: Ben McNally is right - the owner of McNally's Books in Toronto, he says he hopes he can get his hands on some copies of "Go Set A Watchman" when it rolls off the presses this July.
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TRX: Chances are the reviews will be kind because this book dates from exactly the same era as "To Kill A Mockingbird".
Indeed it was written before the first book and looks at the adult experiences of the character known as Scout.
Harper Lee's publisher thought her childhood story might be more interesting…which is how the author came to write "To Kill A Mockingbird" in the first place.
Harper Lee is now 88…wheelchair bound and profoundly deaf in an assisted living facility in Alabama.
But by the end of the summer she is once again guaranteed a place on the best seller list.
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President & Chief Correspondent
Feature Story News
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Websites: www.featurestory.com and www.simonmarks.com
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