Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Harper Lee, the recluse who wrote the wonderful "To kill a mockingbird..."

Despite the thick, black sunglasses, there is something familiar about the frail 84-year-old woman as she is helped falteringly towards the lake shore.

A delighted smile flickers across her face as ducks and Canada geese flock round to feed on the scraps of bread brought from the care home where she lives in a modest apartment.

(...)

But according to confidants, many of whom have known her since childhood, what Harper has really found a burden is her enduring sadness about the book’s underlying themes.

They say that while To Kill A Mockingbird is ostensibly a courtroom thriller – in which Scout’s compassionate and principled lawyer father Atticus Finch defends a black man falsely accused of raping a white woman – Harper drew on deeply painful family secrets to create her protagonists. Full story...

Don't miss:

  1. Somerset Maugham, puppy-throwing and teenage boys...
  2. 'Catcher in the Rye' author J.D. Salinger is dead...
  3. 1984, George Orwell's dying legacy...
  4. Playwright Harold Pinter is dead...
  5. A list of 100 must-read books...
  6. Race and intelligence: A sorry tale of shoddy science...
  7. White kids stand up for "fucking Chinese" who broke bully's nose...

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