Literary history is being made today with the publication of Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee. This much anticipated novel, written in 1957 before To Kill a Mockingbird, was believed to be lost for over 50 years. Lucky for Harper Lee fans all over the world, Go Set a Watchman is available in bookstores today.
And even luckier for people who cannot read traditional books due to blindness, low vision, physical and learning disabilities, Go Set a Watchman is available on Bookshare, the world’s largest accessible online library, at the same time. With Bookshare, readers can listen to Go Set a Watchman, read in braille or large print, and more. Now people with print disabilities can enjoy this historic release the same day as everyone else and join the conversation.
HarperCollins is printing two million copies for this blockbuster literary event. Go Set a Watchman is the most pre-ordered book HarperCollins has ever published, and the novel is already the #1 bestseller on Amazon. According to the publisher, Go Set a Watchman is “a wonderful new novel from one of America’s bestselling authors. Exploring the tensions between a local culture and a changing national political agenda; family arguments and love: an instant classic.”
Go Set a Watchman takes place 20 years after the events in To Kill a Mockingbird. Scout, who now lives in New York, travels back to Maycomb, Alabama, to visit her father Atticus. Will it be an instant classic and national treasure like To Kill a Mockingbird which won the Pulitzer Prize in 1961, sold over 30 million copies, and was translated into 40 languages?
If you’ve never read To Kill a Mockingbird, or you read it in school many years ago and don’t remember it, you might consider doing a Harper Lee marathon and read both novels. Which book will you like the best? Will Go Set a Watchman live up to the hype? Will it be as big or bigger than To Kill a Mockingbird? How will Scout and Atticus have evolved as characters?
There’s only one way to find out. Read it and be a part of lively discussions with friends and the Bookshare community. We invite you to share your comments as part of the Summer Reading Challenge on Facebook, Twitter using the #TurnUp4Books hashtag, or the form on the Bookshare website. And if you’re not yet a member of Bookshare, learn how to join so you can read Go Set a Watchman, as well as over 345,000 other titles.
Summer reading just got a lot hotter!
I finished Go Set a Watchman yesterday, got it as soon as it came out, probably would have finished it sooner if I had had the time, I can see why the author was urged to write Mockingbird; it filled in the gaps somewhat. I think this book is just as good as Mockingbird.
Thanks for sharing your recommendation, Patti! We’re glad that you enjoyed both books!