Thank you for giving me a different view on this.
Isn’t it nice to have a pleasant discussion on such a great story?
It is...of course, we may never know the real story, given Harper Lee’s long-established desire for privacy.
On a related note, another book I’ve been meaning to read is “Mockingbird Next Door,” written by a former Chicago Tribune journalist. She was assigned to go to Monroeville and see if she could get a comment from the Lees when “Mockingbird” was named Chicago’s favorite book. She made contact with Harper Lee’s older sister (still working as an attorney in her 90s); the reporter struck up a friendship with Lee’s sister and she was given rare access into their lives.
The reporter actually moved to Monroeville and spent time with the Lee sisters over a period of four years. But when the book was published, Harper Lee disavowed it; I personally think it was an effort by her sister (who played an important role in HL’s life) to come out of the shadows and tell her side of the story.
There will be an absolute flood of books on Harper Lee after her passing; until then, “Mockingbird Next Door” may be the most accurate record of how she lived her life after she became a celebrity and deliberately withdrew from that existence.