By Laura Stevens And Jeffrey A. Trachtenberg
The Alabama Department of Human Resources has closed its
investigation into whether Harper Lee was a victim of elder abuse
when she agreed to publish a new book this summer, declaring the
allegations "unfounded."
The department sent a letter with the findings to attorneys for
Tonja Carter, Ms. Lee's lawyer. Both the attorneys and Ms. Carter
declined to comment further.
The determination follows a similar one by the Alabama
Securities Commission in March, when the director said his agency
concluded Ms. Lee appeared to understand what was occurring while
approving the publication of "Go Set a Watchman," a new novel to be
published by HarperCollins Publishers in July. The publication of
the new novel sparked a fierce debate about the health of Ms. Lee,
who suffered a stroke in 2007, as well as questions about her
intentions to publish the book.
The manuscript for "Go Set a Watchman" was rediscovered last
year by Ms. Carter, Ms. Lee's lawyer. The story takes place during
a period of civil rights unrest in Alabama in the mid-1950s and
Scout, the heroine of "To Kill a Mockingbird," is an adult.
A spokeswoman for HarperCollins Publishers said the publishing
house wasn't surprised by the findings and is looking forward to
publishing what it expects will be its biggest title of the year.
The novel ranks No. 18 on Amazon.com Inc.'s bestseller list. Amazon
is offering the book for sale on a pre-order basis, with the
hardcover priced at $13.99, a 50% discount from the stated cover
price. The novel goes on sale July 14.
Ms. Lee has steadfastly refused to publicly discuss the book.
However, the story behind its rediscovery has something of a
noirish quality. In early February, as part of its disclosure that
it would publish "Go Set a Watchman," HarperCollins provided a
statement from the author that HarperCollins said had been supplied
by Ms. Carter.
In her statement, Ms. Lee said she'd originally completed the
manuscript for "Go Set a Watchman" in the mid-1950s and that it
featured Scout, the book's narrator, as an adult woman. However,
Ms. Lee's editor at the time asked her to rewrite the work, this
time told from Scout's perspective as a young girl. The book that
resulted was Ms. Lee's debut novel, "To Kill a Mockingbird," which
has sold more than 40 million copies in all formats world-wide,
according to HarperCollins.
As the years passed, Ms. Lee said she lost track of the
manuscript, which was rediscovered by Ms. Carter. "After much
thought and hesitation I shared it with a handful of people I trust
and was pleased to hear that they considered it worthy of
publication," said Ms. Lee, in her statement. "I am humbled and
amazed that this will now be published after all these years."
In an earlier interview, a senior executive at HarperCollins,
which like The Wall Street Journal is owned by News Corp, said that
"Go Set a Watchman" takes place in the mid-1950s during a period of
civil-rights unrest. "Scout is an adult and living in New York. She
returns home and revisits her past," said Jonathan Burnham,
publisher of the Harper imprint that will publish the book.
Write to Laura Stevens at laura.stevens@wsj.com and Jeffrey A.
Trachtenberg at jeffrey.trachtenberg@wsj.com
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