Critic’s Notebook: To annoy a ‘Mockingbird’
Reporter Marja Mills publishes new book about her time as Harper Lee’s neighbor.
- http://clatl.com/atlanta/ImageArchives?by=1223504
- NOSY NEIGHBOR?: Reporter Marja Mills will read from her new memoir The Mockingbird Next Door: Life with Harper Lee, which details her experiences as neighbor to famously reclusive author Harper Lee.
Beware the friendly new neighbor. Especially if she’s a reporter.
That may be the takeaway lesson from the story of Marja Mills, a reporter for the Chicago Tribune, who, in 2001, moved in next door to Harper Lee, author of the beloved 1960 classic To Kill a Mockingbird. The famously reclusive Lee, who still lives in her tiny hometown of Monroeville, Ala., stopped giving interviews in 1965 (Her standard response to inquiries is reportedly, “Not just no. Hell no.”).
Undiscouraged, Mills flew to Alabama in 2001 to write about Lee and ended up moving into the house next door, first befriending Lee’s sister. Mills’ recently published book, The Mockingbird Next Door: Life with Harper Lee, details her encounters with Lee - sharing coffee at McDonalds, trips to the laundromat, feeding ducks, catfish suppers, and exploring lower Alabama with the author’s inner circle.
Mills contends that the book was written with Lee’s consent, but Lee, who is now 88 and in a nursing home since 2007, is not pleased with the new publication. In a recent statement, Lee wrote, “Rest assured, as long as I am alive, any book purporting to be with my cooperation is a falsehood.”
Mills will read from the new memoir and share some of her thoughts about her experiences this week at the First Baptist Church in Decatur on Fri., July 25, at 7 p.m. For more information, visit Georgia Center for the Book.