To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is a deeply moving coming-of-age tale as seen through the lens of eight-year-old Scout, who discovers the importance of empathy and moral courage in a town consumed by prejudice and bigotry. The unforgettable novel of the sleepy Southern town of Maycomb and the crisis of conscience that rocked it, To Kill a Mockingbird is narrated by young Scout Finch who sees the changes happening among her community and gradually begins to glean that the world is full of both great beauty and brutal inequality. Her father, Atticus Finch, is a crusading lawyer who risks everything to defend a black man unjustly accused of a terrible crime. Through Harper Lee’s compassionate narrative, the author questions the very roots of human behavior while highlighting the issues of injustice, race, and class that she witnessed growing up in her hometown of Monroeville, Alabama. To Kill a Mockingbird was first published on July 11, 1960.