To Kill a Mockingbird
One of the best-loved stories of all time, To Kill a Mockingbird has been translated into more than 40 languages, sold more than 30 million copies worldwide, served as the basis for an enormously popular motion picture, and voted one of the best novels of the 20th century by librarians across the United States. A gripping, heart-wrenching, and wholly remarkable tale of coming-of-age in a South poisoned by virulent prejudice, it views a world of great beauty and savage inequities through the eyes of a young girl, as her father -- a crusading local lawyer -- risks everything to defend a black man unjustly accused of a terrible crime. Lawyer Atticus Finch defends Tom Robinson -- a black man charged with the rape of a white girl. Writing through the young eyes of Finch's children Scout and Jem, Harper Lee explores with rich humor and unswerving honesty the irrationality of adult attitudes toward race and class in small-town Alabama during the mid-1930s Depression years. The conscience of a town steeped in prejudice, violence, and hypocrisy is pricked by the stamina and quiet heroism of one man's struggle for justice. But the weight of history will only tolerate so much. -------
Themes & atmosphere
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What you might want to know about To Kill a Mockingbird
The questions readers send us most often, answered without spoilers.
Six-year-old Scout Finch lives in the Alabama town of Maycomb with her older brother Jem and their widower father Atticus, a quiet small-town lawyer.
Yes. To Kill a Mockingbird won the 1961 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. Harper Lee's only published novel during her lifetime; Go Set a Watchman, an early draft, was controversially published in 2015.
Yes. To Kill a Mockingbird has been one of the most frequently challenged books in American schools, primarily for racial slurs and depictions of sexual assault. It remains widely taught.
To Kill a Mockingbird was written by Harper Lee, published in 1960 by Dn.
To Kill a Mockingbird is 320 pages in standard print editions, though page counts vary slightly between hardcover, paperback, and large-print formats.
At an average reading pace of about 250 words per minute, To Kill a Mockingbird takes most readers 5 to 7 hours to finish.
To Kill a Mockingbird is a standalone novel by Harper Lee, not part of a series.
To Kill a Mockingbird is available in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats from Amazon, Bookshop.org, ThriftBooks, and most major bookstores.