Harper Lee was born in 1926 in a small town in the southern state of Alabama. She was a lawyer's daughter, but she stated several times that To kill a mockingbird is not an autobio-graphical novel. It was written while Ms. Lee was working in New York, in the late fifties, and published in 1960. It became an instant success with both public and critics and won the author the Pulitzer Prize, the most important American literary award. It is still an in-ternational best-seller, with over thirty million copies sold. A successful film based on the novel was released, starring Gregory Peck as the lead character, for which role he received an Academy Award ('Oscar'). Harper Lee soon returned to Alabama, where she leads a solitary life, avoiding contact with media.

The novel, written in the first-person form describes life in a small town in the American South (Maycomb County, Alabama) in the thirties, as seen through the eyes of the narra-tor, a young girl, Jean-Louise 'Scout' Finch. At the beginning, Scout is six years old. She is the daughter of the local lawyer, Atticus Finch, has a ten-year old brother, Jeremy ('Jem'), and is

This is the element of the novel that has attracted the greatest attention. It is also the cen-tral theme of the film based upon it. The local sheriff arrests Tom Robinson, a young black man who is accused by Mayella Ewell, a white girl, of raping her. The girl is beaten-up, but no medical examination is done to prove whether she really was raped. The county judge, a fellow liberal, asks Atticus Finch to defend Tom as the court-ordained lawyer. Atticus accepts the case, although he knows he is putting himself and his family in dan-ger. The sheriff and townsfolk don't expect Atticus to try for any real defence - he should just play the role for the sake of legal form. Atticus puts a lot of effort preparing the best defence he can, while he and his family are threatened and accused of being 'nigger-lovers'.

During the short process, Atticus easily proves that the white girl actually tried to seduce Tom Robinson, who resisted her. Her father, Robert Ewell, an extremely primitive and brutal man, caught her in the act, beat her and ordered her to tell the sheriff that Tom Robinson has raped her. There is enough of evidence in favour of Tom Robinson, but the twelve white members of the jury pronounce Tom guilty. The judge is disgusted and dis-misses the jury, ordering a new process. This will never happen, as the sheriff's deputy kills Tom claiming he was trying to escape. The girl's father, being exposed, wants re-venge and tries to kill Scout and Jem. The mystery man, Boo Radley, finally emerges and saves the children.

To kill a mockingbird is a novel about tolerance, and the lack of it. It is a novel about all the outcasts whose only fault is t

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Approximate Word count = 1116
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)