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This remarkable work was written by Nelle Harper Lee (1926 – 2016), who grew up in Monroeville, Alabama. She was born into an affluent and well-connected family in the town. Lee , after graduating from high school , studied law in a desultory fashion for several years but never obtained a degree. Her real passion was literature , and with the help of her father and friends , she began to write the novel that would become ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’Mockingbird. ’ She submitted it to a publishing company, and she worked on it for a full three years before it was finally published in 1960. The book was an instant success , and it became a bestseller and was immediately hailed by the critics as a masterpiece .<ref>Johnson, Claudia Durst. Understanding To kill a mockingbird: a student casebook to issues, sources, and historic historical documents. ABC-CLIO, 1994 </ref>. The work is a classic example of the, the Southern Gothic genre, with dark and irrational elements and eccentric characters. Harper Lee was astonished by the success of her novel and soon withdrew from public life. Remarkably, for a first novel, To Kill a Mockingbird won the prestigious Pulitzer Prize. Harper Lee was showered by several Presidents with awards, over the years. However, she did not write another book. Lee stated that she had said what she wanted to say and that she found the pressure of success and fame too much. The author lived a quiet life and was true to her word. In old age, a book Go Set a Watchman (2015) was published. It was issued by her lawyer and it was very controversial. Many critics regard it as only an early draft of to Kill a Mockingbird and believe that the author was not mentally competent to give her permission for the work to be published. Harper Lee died at the age of 89 in an assisted living facility in Alabama. To Kill a Mocking bird was made into a memorable movie in 1962, starring Gregory Peck, Mary Bardham and Robert Duvall, and directed by Robert Mulligan. This won an Academy Award for best picture and is considered to be a classic. This movie is a faithful adaptation of the book, which is not always the case with Hollywood. In 2018, the novel was turned into a Broadway play, that was very popular with critics and audiences alike.

The literary work of 1960 and the movie of 1962 are set in a small town in Alabama, called Maycomb, and it is set in the Depression-era of the 1930s. In many ways, it is a traditional coming of age story and it is told from the perspective of Jean Louise Finch, nicknamed Scout, who is aged 6 when the book begins. She lives with her widowed father Atticus Finch, her older brother, and her best friend is a boy called, Dill. The three children live in dread and terror of Boo Radley a mysterious recluse who lives on the same street, in a boarded-up house. We later find out that he has been forced to stay at home by his father after he committed a minor crime, which brought shame to his family. Tom Robinson, a black man is charged with raping a white woman, Mayelle Ewell, and Atticus Finch is appointed his lawyer. At one point there is an attempt to lynch Robinson, but this is averted after an intervention by Scout. Atticus defends Tom, and he does it skillfully and he appears to prove that his client is innocent and Mayelle is a liar. However, the all-white jury convicts Tom, even though it is clear that they do not believe the allegations against him. Later, while in prison, Tom is shot while allegedly trying to escape. Bob Ewell is angered by his family’s treatment in the court and especially by Atticus’ cross-examination of his daughter .<ref>Lee, Harper. To kill a mockingbird (London, Random House, 2010), p 115</ref>. His reputation and that of his family are in tatters, after the case. One night he sees Jem and Scout and in a fury, he attacks them with a knife. During the attack, the arm of Jem is broken, then the children are saved by an unlikely hero, that is Boo Radley. He fights with Ewell and manages to take his knife from him and kills him. Sheriff Heck Tate arrives, and he decides that it was a case of self-defense and declares that the attacker had killed himself when he tripped and fell on his own knife. This was done to protect the privacy of Boo and to ensure that he did not get into legal trouble. The novel ends with Scout watching Boo, who returns to his house and is never seen again <ref>Lee, Harper, p. 220</ref>.

One of the reasons for the great success of the novel is the children’s characters, Jem, Scout and Dill, and their memorable adventures are memorable. Scout, in particular, offers a unique perspective on life in a small Southern town. All of these characters are based on real-life characters. Scout is based on Harper Less herself. The author , like her creation , was an intelligent and inquisitive child, who was something of a tom-boy. while Jem is based on her brother. Their friend Dill is based on the great American author Truman Capote. As in the novel, Harper Less and Capote. Like Scout and Dill were neighbors and were inseparable. It is amazing to think that two of America’s most beloved authors were childhood friends and remained somewhat close over their lives. This led to false rumors that Capote actually wrote <I>To Kill a Mockingbird’ which are entirely falseMockingbird</i>. It is worth noting that Lee’s mother did not die, as in the novel until she was in her twenties unlike Scout’s mother.