9 Books to Read While You Wait for Go Set a Watchman to Come Out

Mockingbird: A Portrait of Harper Lee by Charles J. Shields
Who is Harper Lee? The beloved author has long turned down reporters’ requests for access and shunned the spotlight fans would love to turn on her. This captivating biography draws on hundreds of interviews with Lee’s acquaintances to piece together the tale of her life. It’s the story of a young writer’s struggle to produce her masterpiece, encompassing the people who inspired her characters and the childhood events that informed her work.

The Mockingbird Next Door: Life with Harper Lee, by Marja Mills
For years, journalists have tried and failed to cozy up to Harper Lee, who lived with her sister, Alice Lee, in Monroeville, Alabama, until Alice’s death at age 103. In 2001, reporter Marja Mills struck up a friendship with the semi-reclusive Lee sisters. In 2004, Mills moved next door to them. Mills became privy to the Lee sisters’ stories, experiences, and memories of their upbringing in the South. This is a controversial memoir of one woman’s friendship with a writer who astonished America and then retreated from the limelight.

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, by Rebecca Skloot
What if part of you lived on after your death and could cure the illnesses of others? Henrietta Lacks was a poor African American mother of five who died of cervical cancer in the 1950s. Unbeknownst to her and her family, a sample of her cancerous tissue was taken and kept alive in a lab. Although her cells paved the way for countless medical discoveries and became part of a billion dollar medical industry, Henrietta Lacks’ contribution went unrecognized and her family lived in poverty. This engrossing bestseller examines issues of race, poverty, bioethics, and family, all while demonstrating how far social progress lags behind medical progress.

The Warmth of Other Suns, by Isabel Wilkerson
This is a masterful and moving account of the Great Migration, an oft-ignored chapter of American history during which millions of black sharecroppers left the racial oppression of the South in search of opportunities in the North and West. Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Wilkerson deftly weaves extensive historical and sociological research with in-depth individual narratives to create an incomparable chronicle of an inspiring and upsetting part of our nation’s past.

The Secret Life of Bees, by Sue Monk Kidd
In this evocative work of fiction, a young, motherless white girl named Lily shares an unbreakable bond with her lifelong caretaker, a black woman named Rosaleen. When Rosaleen ignites the ire of local racists, she and Lily flee their South Carolina town together. Finding refuge with three sisters, Lily and Rosaleen soon discover a world of beekeeping, Black Madonnas, and feminine wisdom.

The Invention of Wings, by Sue Monk Kidd
Inspired by the life of early abolitionist and suffragist Sarah Grimke, Kidd tells an inspiring story about freedom: freedom from slavery and freedom from the constraints imposed on women. Two lives are inextricably intertwined when eleven-year-old Sarah, the daughter of wealthy parents, is “given” a young slave girl named Handful. Over the next few decades, their complex attachment to each other is tested as they struggle against the barbarity of slavery, bigotry, and patriarchy in the South.

Their Eyes Were Watching God, by Zora Neale Hurston
A seminal work in American literature, this novel follows the life of Janie Crawford, a fair-skinned, spirited young African American woman, as she navigates three marriages, stands trial for murder, and triumphs over a life of turmoil. Janie is one of the most indomitable female characters ever written, a woman who is passionate, sexual, and independent. Her journey through life’s ups and downs show us what it means to love others and to love yourself.

Brown Girl Dreaming, by Jacqueline Woodson
Written for young readers but a must-read for all ages, this stunning collection of verses won the National Book Award in 2014. Woodson’s poems recount the story of her childhood, split between South Carolina and New York, and illuminate the experience of growing up African American in the ‘60s and ‘70s. Vivid and vibrant, this memoir will speak to any young person trying to find a place in a fast-changing world.

The Girl Who Fell from the Sky, by Heidi Durrow
This haunting and heartbreaking novel is narrated by a biracial teenager. Rachel has spent her whole life with her white Danish mother, but when a horrific tragedy leaves Rachel alone, she is sent to live with her African American grandmother, and for the first time, she must navigate life in a black community. This a riveting read for young adults and adults alike, one that explores a teenaged girl’s conflicts with racial identity and her mysterious, devastating past.
 
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