“Go and put a sentinel” by Harper Lee, reached one million sales – Universal

Critics have dismissed it as a draft of “To Kill a Mockingbird” and readers are desperate to hear a racist old Atticus Finch. But “Go Set Watchman” (“ Go and put a guard ” Harper Lee already sold a million copies.

HarperCollins announced Monday that “Go Set Watchman” in its print, electronic and audio formats, has sold a combined 1.1 million copies in the United States and Canada, a figure that includes the sales of the first week and the months of presales. The publisher stunned the world in February when he revealed that he would publish a second novel by Lee, who for years insisted that “To Kill a Mockingbird” would be his only book.

HarperCollins, whose authors include Michael Crichton and Veronica Roth, rate “Watchman” as the book publishing fastest been sold Others, like “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire,” published in the United States by Scholastic in 2007, they have sold faster. 8.3 million . copies within 24 hours

“Watchman” was published on July 14 and Monday morning remained the No. 1 bestseller on Amazon.com and Barnes & amp; Noble.com, where “ To Kill a Mockingbird ” he was also among the top 10 in the list. HarperCollins increased the first printing of “Watchman” 2 million copies to 3.3 million.

“Watchman” was written before “Mockingbird,” the classic Lee won the Pulitzer Prize, but its plot It takes place 20 years later, in the same community of Alabama. Critics and readers reacted with surprise to find that the heroic Atticus “Nightingale” now despised blacks and condemned the decision of the Supreme Court to outlaw segregation in public schools.

Questions about the book They arose almost immediately after HarperCollins announced. Scholars Lee noted that “Watchman” was the work of a young and inexperienced and friends and admirers of the writer of 89 years were concerned author of the book has been adopted without their participation. State officials in his native Alabama, where Lee lives in a nursing home, met with the writer and concluded that he was alert and able to make their own decisions on “Watchman”.

Lee’s lawyer, Tonja Carter has said he discovered the manuscript of the book in some documents last year.

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