Sounds like, overall, it was a good book. What is the major / plot theme?...........
Oh the eternal "you can't go home again" kind of stuff. Scout's living in New York and is making a visit home. There's a lot of flashbacks to childhood, and I imagine that's where Harper Lee got to foundations for "To Kill A Mockingbird" Her childhood friend, Atticus law partner, and sometime-suitor, Hank Clinton, tries to renew the spark and for a while it looks like they're going to but then he says some disparaging things about blacks. Later she finds some KKK-like material in Atticus's papers and trails him to a meeting where she finds out that not only is Atticus running the show of the local white supremacist outfit but Hank is on the board as well. This crushes her emotionally, she can't look at her father the same, and so forth and so on. I found the flashbacks a bit annoying, at least "To Kill A Mockingbird" didn't have any, and Scout's reaction more than a little bit contrived. I found the part about Jem to be the biggest shock; I'll email you that if you want but I don't want to do any spoiler alerts. I'm not sorry bought it but "To Kill A Mockingbird" is by far the better read.