A recently published memoir, "The Mockingbird Next Door," now available at the Library, is a fitting and poignant tribute to one of America's most famous authors, Harper Lee, whose "To Kill a Mockingbird" became a modern classic, selling over thirty million volumes and translated into umpteen foreign languages. One is reminded of another Southern writer from the neighboring state of Georgia (Ms. Lee resides in Monroeville, Alabama), whose first and only published novel, like Ms. Lee's, won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and virtually overnight made that author the most famous name in the book world: Margaret Mitchell and "Gone With the Wind." Both women never wrote another book, and both had their lives changed irrevocably by the publication of that one, spending most of the rest of their lives artfully dodging the spotlight, totally perplexed and unprepared for such instant fame. Lee is now 88, living in an assisted living home, her health severely impaired by a stroke; tragically Mitchell's life was cut short when she was killed in an auto accident at the age of 49.
"The Mockingbird Next Door" is the story of the author's relationship to both Harper Lee and her older sister Alice before, during, and after she rented the house next door to them in Monroeville, Alabama. Sent to Monroeville by her employer, The Chicago Tribune, to try to get just one interview with the reclusive Nelle Harper Lee, author Marja Mills so ingratiated herself to both Lee sisters that she finally ended up renting the house next door to them and staying for over a year. The result is a nostalgic and delightful view of Nelle ( Harper) and Alice Lee and their Southern small town world, both present and past.
Unfortunately, the publication of the book has created a small tempest, for Harper Lee has disavowed any connection with it or its author, who, in my opinion, has gone to considerable lengths to protect Lee's privacy, even as she reveals her as the smart, insightful and creative woman she obviously is. "Mockingbird" is as much the story of small town Southern life and of Lee's remarkable older sister, Alice, a lawyer like their father, who formed the model for Atticus Finch, as it is of Lee herself. Totally unimpressed by the money that fame has brought her, Lee and her sister (who died at the age of 103, active until virtually the end of her life!) continued to live in the same house, a brick three bedroom, two bath rambler they had shared with their parents, with no television, no internet (they did have a fax machine for communicating, since both were quite hard of hearing), no cell phone and wonder of wonders, not even a washing machine! Wouldn't you love to have met Harper Lee doing her laundry at the local Laundrymat?
The two things they did splurge on were books and eating out, though in the small town of Monroeville and its environs, eating out hardly meant spending a lot of money--it usually meant lots of cups of coffee at the local McDonalds and several meals of fried catfish at Dave's Catfish. The books, magazines and newspapers were something else: they virtually furnished the house, stacked on every conceivable surface that could be found, except the two chairs the ladies occupied. Lee's characteristic comment on the so-called "conveniences" of modern life was an old-timey word which she was very fond of using: "Mercy!"
Despite the richness of its small town portrayal of Harper Lee, this book does not attempt to explore the other major aspect of her life except by occasional allusions to it: Lee spent part of every year in her apartment in New York City from the age of nineteen until long past the success of her book in 1960, followed by the equal success of the film, starring Gregory Peck (who became a close friend) in 1961. Initially she worked for British Airlines, later of course she did not have to work at all, but she kept her New York life as long as she could. Whether her biographer Gerald Clarke, whose book on her she also disavowed, spends equal time on both major places in her life I don't know. There is a chapter of sorts in the book devoted to her long-time friend and neighbor, Truman Capote, and their research collaboration on his famous non-fiction novel, "In Cold Blood." Their relationship from childhood through adulthood is probably worthy of a book itself.
"The Mockingbird Next Door" is certainly not a good read for everyone; its small town, anecdotal nature becomes a bit redundant at times; but for those of us fascinated by Lee and her famous book, as well as the nature of Southern small town life, now and then, it is well worth the time spent. I recommend it!
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