2. Alabama's Race Relations

Available for 29 days

Harper Lee's explosive second novel was finally published in 2015. Believed lost for decades after the publication of 'To Kill A Mockingbird', this book revisits much-loved characters, this time through adult eyes. Jean Louise 'Scout' Finch travels 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, she pays a visit to the woman who raised her. The family's old housekeeper Calpurnia opens Jean Louise's eyes to the realities of race-relations in her home-state. Omnibus of the last five of ten parts abridged by Robin Brooks. Concluded by Fenella Woolgar Producer: Eilidh McCreadie. First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in August 2015.