The Mockingbird Next Door  (English, Hardcover, Mills Marja)

The Mockingbird Next Door: Life With Harper Lee is a memoir and personal account of the time Marja Mills spent with Harper Lee and her sister.

Summary of the Book

Seldom does a book send echoes rippling through the literary world. Few books have this effect, and fewer still manage to force the world into acknowledging that the writer is a genius. Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird had that effect. It might be her only published work, but it is a sign of her unsurmountable skill and fluency for the art of storytelling. However, Harper Lee never followed up her work. She refused to grant interviews or say anything on record. Journalists trekked to Monroeville, Alabama, where Lee stays with her sister, for decades, failing to get so much as a statement from her. Nelle Harper Lee has always been adamant against speaking to journalists, and there have never been books officially endorsed by her. In this book Marja Mills claims that she has finally found the coveted endorsement. She explains that she spent eighteen months as the neighbour of the Lee sisters and spent time with them, understanding their personal lives. In this memoir, she presents her understanding of their history and her thoughts about the family.

About Marja Mills

Marja Mills is a journalist and writer. She was formerly a reporter and feature writer for the Chicago Tribune. She is a Pulitzer Prize winner for her 2001 series about O’Hare Airport entitled “Gateway to Gridlock”.

A graduate of Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service, Mills studied in Paraguay, Spain and Sweden. She is based in Downtown Chicago.