Book Review: The Mockingbird Next Door: Life with Harper Lee by Marja Mills

The Mockingbird Next Door: Life with Harper Lee. Marja Mills. Penguin Press (2014). 278 pages. Genre: Non-fiction, Memoir, Biography.

First Line of the Prologue: "In the summer of 2005, I was having coffee at Burger King with Harper Lee."

Summary: Journalist Marja Mills was given an assignment to visit Monroeville, Alabama, hometown of Harper Lee.  Mills worked for the Chicago Tribune.  The Chicago Public Library had recently launched a program called One Book, One Chicago and they had chosen To Kill a Mockingbird as the first book.  The idea was to get people from all parts of Chicago reading and discussing the same book.  The Chicago Tribune wanted to run a story on the famous author of To Kill a Mockingbird. 

Harper Lee had said very little on record since the publishing of the book.  It was expected that she would refuse an interview.  So, Marja Mills headed to Monroeville with the goal of gaining as much information as she could about the author's life from other sources.  Before leaving town to return to Chicago, she and her photographer stopped by the home that Harper shared with her sister Alice.  Mills wanted to be able to tell her boss that she attempted to contact the author.  She was surprised when the door was opened by Alice Lee.  She was even more surprised when she was invited in for a conversation. 

My thoughts: I really enjoyed the author's narrative style.  The book reads like a novel. While the book is very much about Harper Lee and Alice Lee, it is really a memoir about the author's time spent with them.  So it is told from her perspective.  Along the way, the reader learns a lot about Monroeville - both past and present, and the Lee family.  You get to know Alice, Harper and their friends.  I also listened to some of the audiobook read by Amy Lynn Stewart.  She used different voices for the characters which really gave a southern flavor to the story.  

Marja Mills met Alice Lee first and made an impression on her.  It was because of this meeting that Harper Lee was willing to meet with her.  Known to her family and friends as Nelle, Harper Lee was ready to set the record straight.  For years, reporters had been trying to get an interview with her.  From their very first meeting, Nelle made it clear that, "This would not be an interview." "'Just a visit.'"  Because Marja was agreeable to that, their relationship began to grow.  When the article finally came out in the Chicago Tribune, Nelle gave her approval.  

A few months after the article was printed, Marja Mills was struggling with her health.  She has Lupus and was having a flare.  Usually flares passed in a few days, but this one was worse.  She was told by the newspaper that she needed to take a leave of absence.  She decided that would be a good time to go back to Monroeville and visit Alice and Harper.  It was during this time that it was decided that Marja would write a book about their lives.  She eventually rented a house next door to the Lees.  

If you are curious about the life of Harper Lee or just like a good memoir, I highly recommend this book. 

Quotes:

"When she moved to New York, she had little money and lived frugally.  Even after the unexpected success of her book, she still lived frugally when it came to spending on herself."

"Once home, they would get to clucking over each other, Alice telling Nelle to drive carefully and Nelle telling Alice not to work herself to death.  The two women had this in common:  Sisterly admonition aside, they did as they saw fit."

"She lamented the passing of an era she said I was too young to remember, one in which a reporter's first and only job was to get the facts right, not to inject personal opinion."