Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird

J.B. Lippincott Company, New York 1960.
First edition. Jacket Design by S. Smith.

Seen through the eyes of young Scout and Jem Finch, Harper Lee explores with tremendous humour the irrationality of adult attitudes to race and class in the Deep South of the 1930s. The conscience of a town steeped in prejudice, violence and hypocrisy is pricked by the stamina of one man’s struggle for justice. This book is set in a time when common language and attitudes in the Deep South were very different to today. The politically correct will be offended, everyone else will be grateful we’ve moved on, recognising that people are just people, regardless of colour.