EXCLUSIVE: Harper Lee is joking that she will spend money from Go Set A Watchman on trip to Las Vegas, says friend who rejects claims author 'is being walked over' to publish it

  • Member of author's inner circle tells Daily Mail Online that Lee, 89, is mentally sharp, excited about the new book and joking about the royalties
  • Kamisha Booker visits author twice a month with teenage daughter and said: 'For a lady that age she has a wonderful mind.'
  • Book is published on Monday but has already split inner circle of reclusive author's friends in hometown of Monroeville, Alabama
  • Other former friends say they do not believe she has 'mental or physical strength' and that she is being 'walked over' into publication
  • Author's lawyer is now involved in feud with town museum which honors her legacy and includes courtroom where her father was defense attorney  

Cover: Go Set A Watchman will be out on Tuesday

Cover: Go Set A Watchman will be out on Tuesday

Harper Lee has joked about spending the money from her new novel on trips to Las Vegas and the Bahamas, one of her inner circle has disclosed.

The reclusive novelist, whose long-lost novel Go Set A Watchman will be the publishing phenomenon of the decade when it is released on Monday - has a 'wonderful mind', Kamisha Booker, told Daily Mail Online.

Mrs Booker, who visits Harper Lee twice a month, offered an unprecedented insight into Lee's state of mind and said the novelist was 'excited and overwhelmed' by the publication of the novel.

Harper Lee hopes her book will be made into a film - as To Kill a Mockingbird was - and be invited onto the set to 'encourage' actors and give a first hand insight to movie makers as to how she meant the book to be understood.

Book lovers across the world are expected to spend up to $40 million on the novel with two million copies set to hit the stores.

But in Monroeville, the close-knit town where Lee lives, the book has proved to be intensely divisive.

The author is at the center of an acrimonious split between those who have been loyal to her over the years.

Her lawyer and those selected friends allowed to remain in touch and see her at The Meadows, an assisted living facility, support the release of the book and insist it is her choice to publish it. 

On the other side, several friends claim they have purposely been kept away from her and  have received letters from the novelist - through her lawyer - stating that she can no longer be in contact with them.

Some former associates, who claim they have been banned from contacting her, say the friend they call Nelle, her real first name, is suffering from failing mental health, poor eyesight, is frail and hard of earing, and would have been unable to make the decision to publish the novel without being pressured.

To Kill A Mockingbird has sold more than 40 million copies and brings her $3m royalties a year.

Lee had vowed for more than half a century not to release any more books after the success of her first and news of the existence and sudden release of Watchman surprised some of her friends.

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Rare appearance: Harper Lee (center) and close friend Joy Brown (right) are shown a copy of Go Set A Watchman by documentary maker Mary McDonagh Murphy  in Monroeville, Alabama, on June 30

Rare appearance: Harper Lee (center) and close friend Joy Brown (right) are shown a copy of Go Set A Watchman by documentary maker Mary McDonagh Murphy in Monroeville, Alabama, on June 30

Home: Harper Lee rarely comes out of The Meadows assisted living facility, but one of her regular visitors says she is excited about the publication of Go Set A Watchman

Home: Harper Lee rarely comes out of The Meadows assisted living facility, but one of her regular visitors says she is excited about the publication of Go Set A Watchman

No doubts: Kamisha Booker, who visits the author twice a month with her teenage daughter, tells Daily Mail Online: 'When I am 89, I hope I have a brain that is as sharp of that of Miss Harper Lee.'

No doubts: Kamisha Booker, who visits the author twice a month with her teenage daughter, tells Daily Mail Online: 'When I am 89, I hope I have a brain that is as sharp of that of Miss Harper Lee.'

THE OPENING SCENES OF GO SET A WATCHMAN

In the first chapter of Harper Lee's second published novel we meet Jean Louise Finch - aka Scout - as she travels back to her home state of Alabama from New York to visit her ageing father, Atticus.

Disembarking at Maycomb she looks for her father who is not there, as expected, to meet her. Instead, she meets Henry Clinton, who grabs her in a 'bear hug' and 'kissed her hard on the mouth, then kissed her gently.'

Clinton, we learn, is a 'comrade' of her brother Jem and a potential husband for Jean. During a playful exchange as they drive away from the station, she rejects his marriage proposal despite there being 'no finer man' in Maycomb.

He worked for Atticus, who is increasingly suffering with rheumatoid arthritis. Atticus took Clinton under his wing after Scout's brother Jem 'dropped dead in his tracks.'

The chapter ends with Scout apologizing for upsetting Clinton during the car journey as she ponders silently whether she could be his wife. 

She now rarely ventures out of The Meadows and whenever she does, security men watch her every move and she is pushed in a wheelchair, after suffering a stroke a few years back.

One old friend who visited her said he knocked on her bedroom door inside the care home only to hear her say: 'Go away, I am not seeing anybody. Leave me alone.'

The discovery of 'Go Set a Watchman' is reported to have been the work of her attorney Tonja Carter, who came to know the writer through her legal work as a colleague of Lee's sister Alice who was still practicing law after she turned 100.

Alice died in November last year at the age of 103 and mourners said the author spent much of the time at her sister's funeral mumbling and talking to herself.

Carter, who refuses to talk about her client, told publisher Harper Collins that the script was in a bank safe deposit box and wrapped in a manuscript of To Kill a Mockingbird.

The publishers said they understood that Lee's script went unnoticed for half a century and that she may have forgotten about it before Carter said she found it last Autumn.

But Justin Caldwell, a rare book expert at auctioneers Sotheby's is also said to have found the lost manuscript in the bank vaults almost three years before in October 2011.

Carter confirmed last week that she attended a meeting with Caldwell and Lee's then agent Samuel Pinkus which took place at the time, but insisted that she left the room 'to run an errand' before the discovery could be revealed to her and had remained unaware.

The lawyer has followed the lead of her client, who was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2007, by rejecting interviews. Harper Collins said that it had been unaware of the 2011 meeting but had 'no reason' to disbelieve Carter.

After the announcement that Go Set A Watchman would by published, the State of Alabama investigated an anonymous complaint of 'elder abuse involving Lee's ability to willfully consent' to the publication of the new book.

In April, they declared 'no evidence of abuse or neglect was found.' Today one of those closest to her backs that verdict. 

At home: Harper Lee in her room at the assisted living facility in Monroeville where she lives, with her friends Wayne Greenhaw and actor Mary Badham

At home: Harper Lee in her room at the assisted living facility in Monroeville where she lives, with her friends Wayne Greenhaw and actor Mary Badham

Original work: Until now, this was the only novel published by Harper Lee
Lawyer: Tonja Carter has said she found the long lost manuscript last summer, while doing some legal work for her famous client

Legacy: Until now Harper Lee's only work was To Kill A Mockingbird. But after the death of her older sister, Tonja Carter (right) became her lawyer, and found the old manuscript. Carter is a divisive figure and refuses to give interviews 

Talk of the town: Monroeville is preparing for days of readings and parties ahead of the publication of Go Set A Watchman. The title of the novel is a reference to a Biblical verse, from the Old Testament prophet Isiah

Talk of the town: Monroeville is preparing for days of readings and parties ahead of the publication of Go Set A Watchman. The title of the novel is a reference to a Biblical verse, from the Old Testament prophet Isiah

Disputed: This is the courtroom where her father was an attorney, and which is now part of the Monroe County Museum. The author's lawyer has been in dispute with the museum 

Disputed: This is the courtroom where her father was an attorney, and which is now part of the Monroe County Museum. The author's lawyer has been in dispute with the museum 

Mrs Booker, 36, told Daily Mail Online: 'When I am 89, I hope I have a brain that is as sharp of that of Miss Harper Lee.'

Mrs Booker, 36,visits the author twice monthly with her teenage daughter Keviyana.

'With Miss Harper Lee, there is nothing wrong with her mind. For a lady that age, she has a wonderful mind,' she said.

'She is an incredible woman. She remembers a lot. If you ask her a question, she has an answer for it.

'She has told me she is excited about her book coming out and overwhelmed by the way Go Set A Watchman has pre-sold.

'Miss Harper Lee doesn't know how to put out the excitement. She hopes the book produces well and that sometime there will be a play of The Watchman on Broadway like there has been with her first book.

'She said she loved the filming of her book and once the filming starts of Go Set up a Watchman, she wants to be in on the filming and be able to say a couple of encouraging words for the actor and director.

'She wants to be there almost like a director. I'm not sure she will be able to attend, but she speaks very clear.

'She may be in her eighties, but she fought for her name and her work and she wants To Kill a Mockingbird to be on at the courthouse here in Monroeville every year as long as she is alive.'

Mrs Booker, a hotel receptionist, revealed that Lee has a brilliant sense of humor and self parody, but regrets not having a child of her own.

She said: 'She has never had children. She did speak that it is always a pleasure to have one child, so that when you get up in age you don't have to depend on anybody and you have your child to be that back up person for you.

'She don't have that and that is why she is in assisted living.'

But she added: ' She is a very funny lady and she adores my daughter Keviyana who is aged 14. We visit her once each fortnight, taking her fruit and sitting with her.

'She is very happy that both myself and my daughter love To Kill a Mocking Bird. She has signed my book for me on Mothers' Day.

'Miss Harper Lee made us laugh when she told us; 'I want to live so that I can be able to go to The Bahamas or Las Vegas with the money that I will see from the books.'

Isolated: Sam Threell, 81, who used to deliver Harper Lee her favorite potato soup and was president of the Monroe County Museum. He says he believes his friend has been 'walked over' into publishing the new work

Isolated: Sam Threell, 81, who used to deliver Harper Lee her favorite potato soup and was president of the Monroe County Museum. He says he believes his friend has been 'walked over' into publishing the new work

Target: Stephanie Rogers, the director of the County Museum, has been warned that Tonja Carter is attempting to have her removed after the museum as accused of 'capitalizing' on the author. It will be up to the museum's board of 14 to decide whether to remove or retain her. Carter's husband Pat sits on the board.

Target: Stephanie Rogers, the director of the County Museum, has been warned that Tonja Carter is attempting to have her removed after the museum as accused of 'capitalizing' on the author. It will be up to the museum's board of 14 to decide whether to remove or retain her. Carter's husband Pat sits on the board.

Lee seen at the Alabama Academy of Honor Inductions in October 2009

Lee seen at the Alabama Academy of Honor Inductions in October 2009

'She told my daughter "Well honey, me and you ought to take a trip to Las Vegas together and spend some of this money that I have made off my famous books To Kill a Mockingbird and The Watchman.

'"You just give me a little more time and I will be ready for that plane. But I just got to pull us in a little bit more money. We don't have enough money just yet for the airline."'

The teenager made a blanket with a crochet pattern and the author's initials on it and Lee has hung it on the wall over the headboard of her bed.

The author's friend, who is black, said Lee had regularly discussed her first book with her, but had been disappointed at how it has been perceived among some African Americans.

'She said she thought this was because it was about slavery and strong racism of that time and it may have put a lot of African Americans off from reading it or seeing the play,' she said.

'I told her not to dwell on that because at some point they will give in get some of the topics out of the play and share in her legacy. They may look back and say this is something I should have tried years ago.

'When I went to see the play in Monroeville, I was only one of two black people in the audience.

'But I told Miss Harper Lee that I found the book educational and so did my daughter and it helped us realize how bad things were then and that people had pulled together a lot since the 1950s when she wrote it.'

The division between the current and former inner circle have spilled over into ligation.

There was also a trademark dispute with Monroe County Museum, which has staged a play of her first book annually for 26 years .

Harper Lee had been on good terms with the Monroe County Museum which produces the play in the yard of the town's Courthouse building, where the author as a child used to watch her lawyer father Amasa Coleman Lee.

Sisters: Alice Lee (left) was attorney to her sister Harper (right) untll her death in November last year at the age of 103. In 2006 the attorney was congratulated on her birthday by her sister and Monroe County Circuit Judge-elect Dawn Hare

Sisters: Alice Lee (left) was attorney to her sister Harper (right) untll her death in November last year at the age of 103. In 2006 the attorney was congratulated on her birthday by her sister and Monroe County Circuit Judge-elect Dawn Hare

Lee's 1960 classic To Kill A Mockingbird
Harper Lee in 2001

The new novel is first book Lee (pictured in 2001) has released since her 1960 classic To Kill A Mockingbird

 GO SET A WATCHMAN: CRITICS AND FANS OFFER THEIR FIRST REVIEWS

While critics were qualified in their praise of the first chapter, reaction among fans was largely centered on the anguish at finding out that Jem, a treasured character from 'Mockingbird', had been killed off.

In Britain, Guardian Books editor Claire Armistead told BBC Radio 4 that while it was 'really difficult' to say how the rest of the book would read, she found the first chapter of Go Set A Watchman 'promising'.

'What it sets up is lots of fascinating scenarios,' she said. 

'The childhood friendships have gone... Obviously Scout has a romantic association with the black community which I suspect is going to really develop. 

'It has also got a nice line in irony. It has this line: "Recorded history’s version does not coincide with the truth, but these are the facts, because [they were passed down by word of mouth through the years] and every Maycombian knows them."

'So it is sort of setting up the idea of a reality that doesn’t accord with the facts. And I think it is actually really promising.'

Readers took to Twitter to express their dismay that Jem had been killed off in the years between the setting of 'Mockingbird' and Go Set A Watchman.

Manuel Soto wrote: 'Boycotting 'GoSetAWatchman' because of Jem', and twitter user @fenwench said: 'Harper Lee killed off Jem Finch. My day is ruined #GoSetAWatchman'

The Museum had been given free range to produce the play and all profits were plowed into keeping the building open so that visitors could enjoy the history of the town and learn about Lee and fellow local author Truman Capote.

Lee once secretly visited a performance and as she left the makeshift theater, few realizing her presence.

But as from next year the author, under advice from her legal representatives, will seize back control of her play and permission will have to be sought before it can be staged.

Her legal team stress she will not take any money from the staging of the play in her hometown and has set up a non-profit watchdog to arrange productions.

There was also a dispute over the writer's claims to trademarks revolving around her first book and her legal papers included a claim that the museum was 'capitalizing' on her work. 

The case was settled but there are growing strains in the relationship between the museum and the author.

Daily Mail Online can reveal that Carter is attempting to oust the museum's director Mrs Stephanie Rogers and the curator received a letter warning her of the move on Wednesday.

It will be up to the museum's board of 14 to decide whether to remove or retain her. Carter's husband Pat sits on the board.

Mrs Rogers, 31, refused to discuss the move against her, but insisted she would work to ensure the new book would help benefit the author, the museum and lovers of her writing.

A former museum president Sam Therrell made it clear he was unhappy with the attorney taking over Lee's affairs and that he felt she had pushed ahead with the new book release and that Lee did not have the strength to say no to her.

He added: 'I do believe that Nelle does not have the strength, either physically or mentally, to save herself from being walked over.'

He said he received a note sent on behalf of Lee saying that she would no longer be able to receive visits from him.

Mr Therrell, 81, who owns Radley's Fountain Grille in Monroeville, said he would make weekly visits to see the celebrated author and deliver her favorite potato soup.

'I'd do the same every Thursday both for her and her sister before she passed' he said.

'Nelle( Lee) would write thank you notes on embossed paper, but one day I received a note from her attorney that she would no longer be able to take my visits.

'I believe several others received such notes too stopping them from seeing her again.'

'But I am eagerly awaiting her book. I have pre-ordered my copy months ago.

'I have read To Kill a Mockingbird 200-300 times and that is a conservative estimate.

'Knowing Nell's distinctive writing style, I will know whether she really wrote it or if it is a figment of Tonja Carter's imagination.'

He admitted he had been in conflict with Carter who he described as ' a thorn in the side of the museum.'

'The lawsuits and disputes are not from Nell, but are the work of Tonja Carter,' he said.

Another associate Janet Sawyer, owner of the Courthouse Café, said: 'I think it's her attorney being greedy, because Miss Lee was a very private person who didn't like a lot of publicity.'

Another former friend of the writer, who asked not to be named, said: 'Nelle had a very good relationship with her town and was never ever in any dispute. Now she has been dragged into legal problems with her lawyer and everybody wants it all to stop.

Actor Gregory Peck  and novelist  Harper Lee on the movie set of To Kill A Mockingbird in 1962

Actor Gregory Peck and novelist Harper Lee on the movie set of To Kill A Mockingbird in 1962

Courtroom: The former court in Monroeville, now the county museum, where Harper Lee watched her father practice law, inspiring To Kill A Mockingbird

Courtroom: The former court in Monroeville, now the county museum, where Harper Lee watched her father practice law, inspiring To Kill A Mockingbird

Major event: The town of Monroeville is gearing up for days of events to mark the publication of Go Set A Watchman

Major event: The town of Monroeville is gearing up for days of events to mark the publication of Go Set A Watchman

Southern charm: The First Baptist Church which Harper Lee has attended. Of the missing comma in Go Set A Watchman compared to the King James version of the Isiah verse, she said: 'That's the Lord's book. This is my book and there is no comma.'

Southern charm: The First Baptist Church which Harper Lee has attended. Of the missing comma in Go Set A Watchman compared to the King James version of the Isiah verse, she said: 'That's the Lord's book. This is my book and there is no comma.'

'We respect her for what she has done for this town and we know it wouldn't even register on the world map of it wasn't for her successful books.

'But since her sister died, suddenly we have a new book coming out which had been hidden away. Nelle had said she would never publish another book.'

That view is strongly refuted by Carter's friends. 

Carter insists she has the best interests of Lee and as her legal adviser is working hard to ensure her rights to her own work are properly represented. 

 The lawsuits and disputes are not from Nell, but are the work of Tonja Carter
Sam Therrell, a former friend 

Her husband Patrick's Prop and Gavel restaurant - which had been closed - is being reopened as part of the days of festivities around the new book.

There will be parties and readings and for many, the question will be whether they will see the author.

Lee herself received the first copies of her book last week in her hometown from the publishers and was asked if she ever expected the novel to be published.

'Of course I did, don't be silly,' she said, according to Lee Sentell, the director of the Alabama Tourism Department.

Mr Sentell told the Monroe Courier that there could be no doubt that the author absolutely knew her own mind.

When she received advance copies of the dust jacket several weeks ago, she complained that the comma after the word 'go' should be removed from the title.

When told that the King James version of Isaiah 21:6 reads: 'For this the Lord said to me 'Go, set a watchman; let him announce what he sees and that there was a comma, she refuted it.

She replied: 'That's the Lord's book. This is my book and there is no comma.'

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