By DCist contributor Courtney Vinopal.

When fans of To Kill a Mockingbird first heard that a sequel would be released nearly 60 years after the beloved novel was published, the news was almost too good to be true. Readers were excited to see how Scout, Jem, and Atticus Finch, and other residents of Maycomb, Alabama would evolve since the original book. The possibility that the world beyond Mockingbird might upend our expectations has been rather more unsettling.

D.C. literati eagerly await the release of Go Set a Watchman on July 14th while early reviews have published shocking revelations about the family—notably, that Atticus is racist, once attending a Ku Klux Klan meeting and making disparaging remarks about African Americans.

The vast majority of Mockingbird readers remember Atticus as a saint-like character, standing up for tolerance and justice in a town rife with racial tensions, and teaching his children to do the same. With Go Set a Watchman, Atticus’s oft-quoted teachings about morality and acceptance (such as “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view” and “It’s not okay to hate anybody”) will be interpreted through a more complex lens. Mockingbird was actually written after Go Set a Watchman (at the editor’s request that she focus on Scout as a younger child), so the sequel may give us insight into the Lee’s original intentions for the characters.

Atticus controversy aside, the first chapter of Go Set a Watchman, released on July 10th, does not disappoint. We find Scout, or Jean Louise Finch, in her mid-twenties and on her way home to Alabama from New York to see her family.

Her narrative voice of Mockingbird, admired by many readers for its tomboyish nature, humor, innocence, and insight, has grown up as exactly the kind of spunky and independent woman one might imagine. She defiantly rejects Henry Clinton’s proposition for marriage, electing to “pursue the stony path of spinsterhood” rather than resign herself to a life married to someone she doesn’t truly love. To no one’s surprise, Jean Louise will not succumb to traditional 1950s ideals of marriage.

After moving north from the Deep South, Jean Louise recognizes that Maycomb residents are slow to accept progressive ideals: “Until comparatively recently in its history, Maycomb County was so cut off from the rest of the nation that some of its citizens, unaware of the South’s political predilections over the past ninety years, still voted Republican,” she says. Jean Louise is discerning about the politics of her hometown but nevertheless has a nostalgic affection for the place where she grew up as Scout. Her joy rises at the familiar sight of “tin-roofed houses set in the middle of swept yards” where “inevitable verbena grew, surrounded by whitewashed tires,” and she wonders “why she had never thought her country beautiful.” As the book progresses, we may expect Jean Louise to come to terms with her changing ideals, the flawed nature of her father, and her place in Maycomb.

Where to find Go Set a Watchman

The novel will be released tomorrow and expect bookstores around the city to be carrying it. Politics and Prose has already reported a strong number of pre-sale orders, and Kramerbooks, which is open until 1 a.m., will begin selling copies at midnight. For library card-holders, D.C. Public Libraries plan to have 55 copies available throughout the city, so place your hold now.

Beyond the book

On the eve of the book’s release, the Barnes and Noble on 12th Street is hosting a To Kill a Mockingbird Read-a-thon from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., encouraging readers to refresh their memory of the 1960 publication before digging into the sequel.

And on July 20, historian and biographer Charles J. Shields, author of Mockingbird: A Portrait of Harper Lee, will give a lecture hosted by the Smithsonian Associates on the parallels between Lee’s life and her work. Shields will provide commentary on the author herself, and also help readers understand what led to the publication of Go Set a Watchman 55 years after To Kill a Mockingbird.