Literary Fiction · WarmScout Finch grows up in Alabama as her father defends a Black man
To Kill a Mockingbird
by Harper Lee
A girl in 1930s Alabama watches her lawyer father take an unpopular case
Scout Finch narrates the story of her family in Maycomb, a fictional town in Alabama, in the Great Depression. Her father, Atticus, a widowed lawyer, takes on the defense of Tom Robinson, a Black man accused of assaulting a white woman. Alongside the courtroom drama, Scout and her brother Jem confront their community's prejudices and grow curious about their reclusive neighbor, Boo Radley.
More about this book
Who
Scout Finch, the narrator; her brother Jem; their father Atticus, a lawyer; their friend Dill; their neighbor Boo Radley; and Tom Robinson.
World
Maycomb, a fictional town in Alabama, from 1933 to 1935.
What makes it different
It is both a courtroom story and a story of growing up. It won the 1961 Pulitzer Prize, was made into a 1962 film with Gregory Peck, and was named America's Favorite Book in PBS's The Great American Read in 2018.
Feel
Warm and clear, with a young narrator and a serious subject.
Page count and cover shown for: Selected edition
Behind the book
Lee's father, Amasa Coleman Lee, was a lawyer who partly inspired Atticus. After he defended two Black men in 1919, who were convicted and executed, he never took another criminal case.
Source: Wikipedia
Further reading
- To Kill a MockingbirdWikipedia