Harper Lee's newly discovered To Kill a Mockingbird sequel will be published this summer

It's been 55 years since the publication of To Kill a Mockingbird, but Harper Lee's second novel will finally be published. This summer will see the release of Lee's Go Set a Watchman, a novel that is "essentially a sequel" to To Kill a Mockingbird.

Go Set a Watchman will pick up after the events of To Kill a Mockingbird, following protagonist Scout as an adult. "Scout (Jean Louise Finch) has returned to Maycomb from New York to visit her father, Atticus," said the publisher in a statement. "She is forced to grapple with issues both personal and political as she tries to understand her father's attitude toward society, and her own feelings about the place where she was born and spent her childhood."

The Associated Press reports that Lee actually finished the 304-page Go Set a Watchman manuscript before To Kill a Mockingbird, but set it aside when her editor suggested writing a different novel about Scout as a child. The original Go Set a Watchman manuscript was discovered only recently. "I am humbled and amazed that this will now be published after all these years," said Harper Lee in a statement.

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Go Set a Watchman will be published on July 14.