Astoria Bookshop Announces Release Party for Harper Lee’s Go Set a Watchman 7/14

Astoria Bookshop is celebrating the release of one of 2015’s most anticipated books, Go Set A Watchman, with a Southern-inspired cocktail hour on Tuesday, July 14. From 5-7pm, book lovers of Queens can pick up a copy of Harper Lee’s historic new novel while enjoying drinks and snacks chosen specifically for the event.

Although some are describing Go Set A Watchmen as a sequel to Lee’s classic work To Kill a Mockingbird, the truth is that Watchmen was written first, in the mid 1950s, before Mockingbird‘s release in 1960. Publishers were more interested in a book from the perspective of young Scout Finch, and Watchmen was set aside.  The manuscript went untouched for decades, until being discovered by Lee’s lawyer, Tonja B. Carter,  in the fall of 2014. Go Set A Watchman will follow Scout as she travels from New York to Alabama to visit her father, Atticus Finch, two decades after the events of To Kill a Mockingbird.

The book’s release has everyone talking: while many are anxiously awaiting new material from one of history’s most treasured and celebrated voices, some believe that those profiting off the book are taking advantage of Lee in her old age. At 89, Lee has been living in an assisted-living home and will not be expected to  participate in any publicity for the book. To silence the detractors, Lee released a statement in February expressing that she was “alive and kicking and happy as hell with the reactions to ‘Watchman.'” Fans are also “happy as hell,” as Go Set a Watchman immediately shot to #1 on Amazon, and prompted To Kill a Mockingbird to skyrocket to #3 fifty years after its release.

This is a historic moment in the literary world, and what better way to celebrate than with happy hour at our favorite neighborhood bookstore? See you there!

Astoria Bookshop is located at 31-29 31st St, between Broadway and 31st Ave. Astoria Website, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

One Comment

Threemoons July 3rd, 2015

Did I tell you guys that I just moved in up the block from this place? Commence jealousy. :D Now I just need a gym membership so that they don’t have to cut a hole out of the side of my building to get me out.

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