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The Mockingbird Next Door
Marja Mills
Penguin Press
July 2014
On Sale: July 15, 2014
278 pages ISBN: 1594205191 EAN: 9781594205194 Kindle: B00G3L14KA Hardcover / e-Book
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Non-Fiction Memoir
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is one of the
best loved novels of the twentieth century. But for the last
fifty years, the novel’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 and going out for
catfish supper with the sisters, and exploring all over
lower Alabama with the Lees’ inner circle of friends. Nelle shared her love of history, literature, and the
Southern way of life with Mills, as well as her keen sense
of how journalism should be practiced. As the sisters
decided to let Mills tell their story, Nelle helped make
sure she was getting the story—and the South—right. Alice,
the keeper of the Lee family history, shared the stories of
their family. The Mockingbird Next Door is the story of Mills’s
friendship with the Lee sisters. It is a testament to the
great intelligence, sharp wit, and tremendous storytelling
power of these two women, especially that of Nelle. Mills was given a rare opportunity to know Nelle Harper Lee,
to be part of the Lees’ life in Alabama, and to hear them
reflect on their upbringing, their corner of the Deep South,
how To Kill a Mockingbird affected their lives, and
why Nelle Harper Lee chose to never write another novel.
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