Harper Lee was aware of book deal, one agency concludes
One of two Alabama agencies investigating Harper Lee’s decision-making capability has concluded she was aware of the deal to publish a new book.
The Alabama Securities Commission announced on Thursday it was ending its probe, report the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal (sub. req.). One of the agency’s responsibilities is to prevent financial abuse of the elderly.
Joseph Borg, the director of the Alabama Securities Commission, told the New York Times that Lee, 88, “has opinions and seems to be aware of what is going on with her book and the book deal.”
The securities agency was investigating along with the Alabama Department of Human Resources, which has interviewed Lee, friends and caretakers, according to a New York Times story published on Wednesday. A doctor who is friends with Lee, but has not treated her, said he had sought an investigation to determine whether Lee was able to fully consent to publish a second novel, Go Set a Watchman.
The latest Times story says the human resources department was still investigating as late as Wednesday of this week. But the Wall Street Journal says it wasn’t immediately clear whether that department has also closed its investigation. A spokesman told the Wall Street Journal its investigations are confidential.
An anonymous source told the Wall Street Journal, however, that corresponding investigations usually close at about the same time.
Lee had a stroke in 2007 and lives in an assisted-living facility. Friends told the Times that visitors must yell in Lee’s ear to be heard. She can also read written questions with the help of a special machine.
Go Set a Watchman is scheduled for a July release. When Lee first submitted it to editors in the 1950s, they rejected the book and asked her to instead write a book from the point of view of one of its characters, Scout, as a child. She followed their advice, and To Kill a Mockingbird was published in 1960.
