Townspeople say it is common knowledge that Lee is deaf, blind and in poor health - she had a stroke some years ago. "I am humbled and amazed that this will now be published after all these years," Lee was quoted as saying. That scene seemed at odds with Tuesday's announcement by an arm of HarperCollins Publishers that included an eloquent statement attributed to Lee, 88, who spends her days in an assisted living center not far from where she grew up in this south Alabama town, the inspiration for "Mockingbird." The publisher said Tonja Carter, an attorney who practiced with Alice Lee, found an unpublished manuscript titled "Go Set a Watchman," and that it will be released in July as a sequel to the beloved novel. Both spoke on condition that they not be identified - one for fear of upsetting those handling the author's affairs, the other not wanting to upset the family. Lee mumbled in a manner that shocked some in attendance, said one of the friends. Grieving, ill and seated in a wheelchair, Lee talked loudly to herself at awkward times during the service for her beloved older sister and attorney, Alice, according to two family friends who attended the November service. Hometown friends and fans of "To Kill A Mockingbird" author Harper Lee are struggling to reconcile a publisher's sensational announcement - that her decades-old manuscript for a sequel had been rediscovered and will be released - with the image of the elderly writer at her sister's recent funeral.
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