July 11^th 2010 marks the fiftieth anniversary of the publication of one of the most remarkable and enduring novels of the 20^th Century: To Kill A Mockingbird. The novel has spawned films, stage adaptations and even the names of indie rock groups but it is the sheer power of Harper Lee’s simple prose that retains the power to shock and illuminate after half a century, still taught in most schools in North America, this novel is truly regarded to teach greater lessons than apple mac repair, geography, or maths classes.

The novel centres around Atticus Finch, a small town lawyer in the American deep south who finds himself literally taking a stand against the prejudices of his society when he is given the task of defending a black man accused of raping a young white woman. Whilst the highly moraled and public-spirited Atticus forms the immovable object at the heart of the story, the novel itself is narrated by his six year old daughter Scout. This device allows Lee to take a child-like, almost simplistic, look at the horrific situation that is building within the town. Whilst it is easy to lose oneself in Lee’s exact prose it sometimes feels incongruous to hear such adult sentiments and reasoning supposedly coming from such a young mind. Nevertheless Lee is successful in painting fully developed pictures of children rather than having them as little caricatures as in so many other novels.

The novel made an immediate impact, winning the Pullitzer prize for fiction shortly after publication and its raw and honest depiction of the racial tensions prevalent in America can be seen to have had a huge influences over later fiction from the likes of Maya Angelou and Alice Walker. Despite becoming an instant literary superstar, Harper Lee retreated into her shell and despite pressure from publishers and fans alike it remains her only novel.

One Mockingbird mystery remains: at the time that the novel was written Harper Lee was accompanying her childhood friend Truman Capote as he researched his new novel. It has been suggested, by sources including Capote’s father, that the novel was actually written by Capote (most famous as the author of Breakfast At Tiffany’s) himself and that he let Harper Lee put her name to the book to help her in a fledgling writing career. This suggestion has been ridiculed in most quarters and is vehemently denied by Lee herself, but there are clear stylistic, and plot, similarities between the novel and Capote’s book ‘In Cold Blood’ which deals with a celebrated murder trial of the time. Whatever the truth of this matter, it should not be disputed that To Kill A Mockingbird is one of the greatest modern classics.