To Kill a Mockingbird 2026

Based on an event that occurred near her hometown of Monroeville, Alabama in the 1930s, Lee's story of racial injustice and the destruction of childhood innocence centers on small-town lawyer and single father Atticus Finch (modeled after Lee's father, attorney Amasa Lee), his young daughter Scout, her older brother Jem, and their mysterious neighbor, the reclusive Arthur "Boo" Radley. Written during the early stages of the Civil Rights Movement-at a time when Jim Crow laws were still in effect in many Southern states-Lee's novel held a mirror to the culture of racism of the Deep South.