Overview
- The collection, out Tuesday, features eight previously unseen short stories found in Lee’s New York apartment after her death, plus eight later essays with an introduction by biographer Casey Cep.
- Lee’s nephew, Dr Edwin Conner, says she sought to publish these early pieces and describes them as apprentice work that still shows flashes of her talent.
- Conner recounts a 111-page 1957 manuscript titled The Long Goodbye, whose existence and any relationship to To Kill a Mockingbird remain unverified.
- He also cites reports of an unlocated nonfiction manuscript called The Reverend about Alabama preacher Willie Maxwell, which some claim to have seen and others dispute.
- A new Guardian review deems the pieces slight but illuminating for understanding Lee’s development, renewing attention to debates stirred by the 2015 release of Go Set a Watchman.