num_pages: 278
description: 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 novels 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 conversationand 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 storyand the Southright. Alice the keeper of the Lee family history shared the stories of their family. The Mockingbird Next Door is the story of Millss 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.
language: English
title: The Mockingbird Next Door: Life with Harper Lee
publisher: The Penguin Press