To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

Worth the hype.

As an English Lit graduate, it’s probably not ok to admit that I only picked this book up aged 30. Hot take: To Kill a Mockingbird deserves every piece of praise it received.

The powerful narrative of a pre-teen girl, Jean Louise Finch aka Scout, unravels to be - on the surface - a coming of age story about life in a small Alabama town during the Great Depression. In fact, it takes an innocent, non-judgemental deeper look at humanity and how we are socialised to see the differences of humans in a dangerous way.

They're certainly entitled to think that, and they're entitled to full respect for their opinions... but before I can live with other folks I've got to live with myself. The one thing that doesn't abide by majority rule is a person's conscience.

There’s a powerful moral message, delivered in a thoughtful, engaging way. I know this is a book I’ll re-read.

Blurb: ‘Shoot all the bluejays you want, if you can hit ‘em, but remember it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.’

A lawyer’s advice to his children as he defends the real mockingbird of Harper Lee’s classic novel - a black man charged with the rape of a white girl. Through the eyes of Scout and Jen Finch, Harper Lee explores with exuberant 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. But the weight of history will only tolerate so much.”