Photo by Rob Carr - AP
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USA Today reporter Jocelyn McClurg writes that author Harper Lee has released a letter denying she cooperated with a new biography, The Mockingbird Next Door: Life With Harper Lee, published today by The Penguin Press.
The book is by Marja Mills, who first got to know Lee, the author of the classic novel To Kill a Mockingbird, and her older sister Alice in 2001 as a journalist for The Chicago Tribune. In 2004, with the sisters' blessing (according to the author and her publisher), Mills moved in to the house next door to the sisters in Monroeville, Ala.
In her book, Mills writes: "I wasn't an unknown quantity but someone she (Harper Lee) knew and trusted." Mills also writes, "I could not have done (the book) without the trust, support, and encouragement of Nelle (as Harper Lee is known) and Alice Lee and their closest friends."
But in her letter, the intensely private Lee, 88, says: "Rest assured, as long as I am alive any book purporting to be with my cooperation is a falsehood."
In her letter, Lee notes that she first released a statement dated April 27, 2011, in which she said she was not cooperating with Mills. At the time she wrote: "Contrary to recent news reports, I have not willingly participated in any book written or to be written by Marja Mills. Neither have I authorized such a book."
Part of the dispute hinges on a letter written by Lee's sister Alice saying the sisters cooperated with Mills.
In a statement released Tuesday, Mills says: "The written letter I have from Alice Lee, which she sent May 2011 in response to the original letter issued in Nelle's name, makes clear that Nelle Harper Lee and Alice gave me their blessing. In regard to the writing and release of Nelle Harper Lee's April 2011 statement about my book, Alice Lee (Alice Lee practiced law until she was 100 years old) wrote: 'Poor Nelle Harper can't see and can't hear and will sign anything put before her by anyone in whom she has confidence. Now she has no memory of the incident.' "
In her latest letter, Harper Lee refers to her "elderly" sister's age at the time Alice said Harper Lee had cooperated with the book.
Penguin stands by the book. In a statement released Tuesday the publisher said: "Penguin Press is proud to publish The Mockingbird Next Door: Life with Harper Leeby Marja Mills today. Mills' memoir is a labor of love and Marja Mills has done an extraordinary job. We look forward to sharing her story of the wise and wonderful Lee sisters with readers."
The book is by Marja Mills, who first got to know Lee, the author of the classic novel To Kill a Mockingbird, and her older sister Alice in 2001 as a journalist for The Chicago Tribune. In 2004, with the sisters' blessing (according to the author and her publisher), Mills moved in to the house next door to the sisters in Monroeville, Ala.
In her book, Mills writes: "I wasn't an unknown quantity but someone she (Harper Lee) knew and trusted." Mills also writes, "I could not have done (the book) without the trust, support, and encouragement of Nelle (as Harper Lee is known) and Alice Lee and their closest friends."
But in her letter, the intensely private Lee, 88, says: "Rest assured, as long as I am alive any book purporting to be with my cooperation is a falsehood."
In her letter, Lee notes that she first released a statement dated April 27, 2011, in which she said she was not cooperating with Mills. At the time she wrote: "Contrary to recent news reports, I have not willingly participated in any book written or to be written by Marja Mills. Neither have I authorized such a book."
Part of the dispute hinges on a letter written by Lee's sister Alice saying the sisters cooperated with Mills.
In a statement released Tuesday, Mills says: "The written letter I have from Alice Lee, which she sent May 2011 in response to the original letter issued in Nelle's name, makes clear that Nelle Harper Lee and Alice gave me their blessing. In regard to the writing and release of Nelle Harper Lee's April 2011 statement about my book, Alice Lee (Alice Lee practiced law until she was 100 years old) wrote: 'Poor Nelle Harper can't see and can't hear and will sign anything put before her by anyone in whom she has confidence. Now she has no memory of the incident.' "
In her latest letter, Harper Lee refers to her "elderly" sister's age at the time Alice said Harper Lee had cooperated with the book.
Penguin stands by the book. In a statement released Tuesday the publisher said: "Penguin Press is proud to publish The Mockingbird Next Door: Life with Harper Leeby Marja Mills today. Mills' memoir is a labor of love and Marja Mills has done an extraordinary job. We look forward to sharing her story of the wise and wonderful Lee sisters with readers."