Harper Lee, author of To Kill a Mockingbird, has died at 89

Her impact on American culture and literature is one that will last for centuries. He added that her death occurred early this morning but didn’t provide additional details.

Lee was reclusive for most of her later life.

Despite the book’s enormous success, Lee remained very private, granting virtually no interviews and making very few public appearances.

The still-popular masterpiece got an even bigger boost in late April 2014 when Lee, after years of holding out, agreed to have Mockingbird released in digital form both as an e-book and in audio.

Lee’s health was recently the subject of much speculation after she agreed to the publication of “Go Set a Watchman”, a sequel to “Mockingbird” that was found in a vault and recast the original heroic lawyer, Atticus Finch, as possibly a racist.

The manuscript was an instant bestseller but its release sparked torrid speculation that she was not of sound mind and was mauled by critics who suggested she had tarnished her reputation. A black man has been wrongly accused of raping a white woman, and Scout’s father, the resolute lawyer Atticus Finch, defends him despite threats and the scorn of many.

We mourn her loss.

Lee reportedly had a second novel in the works, but those rumors didn’t come to fruition until February 2015.

Harper Lee was a childhood friend of Truman Capote. She spoke frequently to the press, wrote about herself and gave speeches, once to a class of cadets at West Point.