6. Race Relations

Available for 28 days

Believed lost for decades after 'To Kill A Mockingbird' was published, Harper Lee's explosive second novel finally appeared in 2015. It revisits much-loved characters, this time through adult eyes. Jean Louise 'Scout' Finch has travelled from New York to Maycomb for her annual visit home. It's always a relief to slip into the comfortable rhythms of the South; to spend time with her beloved father Atticus and rekindle her spiky relationship with Aunt Alexandra. But mid-1950s Alabama is not the same place where young Scout spent idyllic summers with brother Jem, and the 26-year old will be betrayed and have her trust shattered before she is able to become her own woman. Distraught after learning that her father Atticus chairs Maycomb's white separatist group, a visit to the woman who raised her - the family's old housekeeper Calpurnia - has opened Jean Louise's eyes to the realities of race relations in her home state. Abridged in ten parts by Robin Brooks Read by Fenella Woolgar. Producer Eilidh McCreadie. First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in August 2015.