Tuesday’s release of a biography about Harper Lee, author of "To Kill A Mockingbird," has riled the 88-year-old writer, who says she never gave approval for "The Mockingbird Next Door: Life with Harper Lee."
"Rest assured, as long as I am alive any book purporting to be with my cooperation is a falsehood,"
Harper Lee said in a letter published by Entertainment Weekly.
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The biography was written by former Chicago Tribune reporter Marja Mills, who lived next door to Lee and her sister, Alice, in Monroeville, Alabama, for 18 months, starting in 2004.
Mills said Lee knew she was writing the book, The Associated Press reported. The book details the friendship between Mills and Lee’s sister, including getting together for coffee, catfish suppers, feeding the ducks, and taking long country drives.
In her letter, Lee responded to Mills’ friendship with her sister, saying "it did not take long to discover Marja's true mission; another book about Harper Lee. I was hurt, angry and saddened, but not surprised.”
Lee said she cut off contact will Mills, but
Mills told People that the friendship continued.
"I can only speak to the truth, that Nelle Harper Lee and Alice F. Lee were aware I was writing this book and my friendship with both of them continued during and after my time in Monroeville," Mills said, according to People.
Lee previously objected to the book when publisher Penguin Press announced plans for it in 2011, issuing a statement at the time that she didn’t authorize the book. Alice wrote a letter in response to that statement.
"Poor Nelle Harper can't see and can't hear and will sign anything put before her by anyone in whom she has confidence. Now she has no memory of the incident," Alice Lee wrote.
The controversy has drawn interest on Twitter.
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