2015 "First Edition" stated on copyright page; Harper Collins Publishers, New York; "Author of To Kill a Mockingbird"; hardbound; very good condition with unmarked pages; dust jacket good with minor wear.
Description -
Go Set a Watchman is a novel by Harper Lee published on July 14, 2015 by HarperCollins, United States and William Heinemann, United Kingdom. Although written before her first and only other published novel, the Pulitzer Prize-winning To Kill a Mockingbird—and initially promoted by its publisher as a sequel—it is now more widely accepted as being a first draft of the famous novel. The title comes from Isaiah 21:6: "For thus hath the Lord said unto me, Go, set a watchman, let him declare what he seeth." It alludes to Jean Louise Finch's view of her father, Atticus Finch, as the moral compass ("watchman") of Maycomb, and has a theme of disillusionment, as she discovers the extent of the bigotry in her home community.
The book's unexpected and controversial discovery, decades after it was written, together with the author's only other book being an American classic, caused its publication to be highly anticipated. Amazon stated that it was their "most pre-ordered book" since Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows in 2007, and stores arranged all-night openings beginning at midnight to cope with expected demand.
Go Set a Watchman tackles the racial tensions brewing in the South in the 1950s and delves into the complex relationship between father and daughter. It includes treatments of many of the characters who appear in To Kill a Mockingbird.
Plot -
Jean Louise "Scout" Finch, 26, returns to her hometown of Maycomb, Alabama, from New York. While on her annual fortnightly visit to home, she is met by her childhood sweetheart Henry "Hank" Clinton. Clinton works for her father Atticus, who is a lawyer and former state legislator. Jack, Atticus's brother and a retired doctor, is Scout's mentor. Their sister Alexandria runs the house and took Calpurnia's place when she retired. The Supreme Court's Brown v. Board of Education decision and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) are introduced as sources of controversy in the community.
Returning from a trip to Finch's Landing, Jean Louise and Henry are passed by a car of black men travelling dangerously at high speed. Henry mentions that the black people in the county now have money for cars but neglect to get licenses and insurance. The next day is spent dealing with the minor scandal the previous evening has caused, and there are sequences during Jean Louise's youth, spent with "Dill" Harris, and her older brother Jeremy "Jem" Finch, who has since died of a heart condition which also killed her mother.
When Jean Louise finds a pamphlet titled "The Black Plague" among her father's papers, she follows him to a Citizens' Council meeting where Atticus introduces a man who delivers a racist speech...