To Kill A Mockingbird' Sequel Introduced; Kept In A Safe Box For 55 Years

The reading public was surprised to hear on Tuesday that the Pulitzer-prize winning book "To Kill" will have a sequel. The announcement was made by the 88-year old author herself, Harper Lee, through her publisher, Harper Collins.

According to The Guardian, the 304-page book, "Go Set A Watchman" will be released this summer 55 years after To Kill A Mockingbird had its debut in the 1960s.

"It features the character known as Scout as an adult woman and I thought it a pretty decent effort. My editor, who was taken by the flashbacks to Scout's childhood, persuaded me to write a novel from the point of view of the young Scout. I was a first-time writer, so I did as I was told," the author said in a statement.

The book is said to have found by the author's friend and layer, Tonja Carter, who is said to have found it in a safe place in the fall in 2014.

"I hadn't realised it had survived, so was surprised and delighted when my dear friend and lawyer Tonja Carter discovered it. 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. I am humbled and amazed that this will now be published after all these years," Harper Lee said.

Vulture conducted a separate interview Hugh Van Dusen, Lee's editor at HarperCollins who is said not to know about the book until it was announced on Tuesday. Further, he said that the author must have kept the book in a safe place all these years.

The version I was told was that the book was in either a safe deposit box or a bank vault, and it was wrapped in a manuscript of To Kill a Mockingbird and nobody noticed it for all these years. I don't know this for a fact, but one must imagine that Harper Lee - we call her Nelle - just never told anybody about the book and then forgot it existed," Van Dusen said.

Publishing costing deals of the book is not known yet, according to ABC News. However, it is certain that it will be published and distributed by William Heinemann, an imprint of Penguin Random House in the United Kingdom.

Meanwhile, the new novel met a lot of questions and controversy as to the real involvement of the 88-year old author, said to be deaf and blind for years now, in the publication and the financial dealing of her new book, Fortune reports.

The site said that netizens from Twitter have aired their concerns as it was known in 2011 that Harper's Lee;s health is failing. As Alice, the author's deceased sister had once said, "Poor Nelle Harper can't see and can't hear and will sign anything put before her."

"To Kill A Mockingbird" is said to have sold 750,000 to 800,00 copies a year. "Go Set A Watchman" will be released on July 14.