To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee

The converging tales within To Kill a Mockingbird can briefly be summed up as: the story of six-year-old Scout Finch and her brother Jem, who are obsessed with sighting the reclusive Boo Radley; and the story of their father Atticus, a noble lawyer who defends a black man in a rape case brought against him by a young white woman.

However this summary cannot possibly touch on the impact of the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, which just a year after its publication had already been translated into 10 languages, and a year after that inspired an Oscar-winning film. Published in 1960, until 2015, when an earlier draft of the book was released, it was Harper Lee’s only title.

 Mockingbird has since been placed above the Bible on the list of books every adult should read before they die and, having never gone out of print, staunchly remains a feature on high school reading lists. Its themes cover racial injustice, gender, the loss of innocence and class and the complexity of social codes.

In 2007 George W. Bush, on his presentation to Lee of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, described it as the book that “has influenced the character [of America] for the better. It has been a gift to the entire world. A model of good writing and humane sensibility, [which will] be read and studied forever.”