[New Arrivals] The Mockingbird Next Door:

The Mockingbird Next Door:

Life with Harper Lee

AUTHOR: Marja Mills

PUBLISHER: Penguin Press

PRICE($): 27.95

GENRE: Biographies & Memoirs

“To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee is one of the most beloved novels of the 20th century. But for the last fifty years, the book’s celebrated author, Harper Lee, has said almost nothing on the record. Journalists have trekked to her hometown of Monroeville, Alabama, where Harper Lee, known to her friends as Nelle, has lived with her sister, Alice, for decades, trying and failing to get an interview with the author. But in 2001, the Lee sisters opened their door to Chicago Tribune journalist Marja Mills. It was the beginning of a long conversation - and a great friendship.

In 2004, with the Lees’ blessing, Mills moved into the house next door to the sisters.

She spent the next eighteen months there, sharing coffee at McDonalds and trips to the laundromat with Nelle, feeding the ducks, going out for catfish supper with the sisters and exploring all over lower Alabama with the Lees’ inner circle of friends.

As the sisters decided to let Mills tell their story, Nelle helped make sure she was getting the story - and the South - right.