Lindsey Graham

Marguerite has been working in publishing a few years, and you've come to rely on her to vet new writers before they get to your desk.

But when you saw this manuscript in the rejection pile, something made you decide to give it a look.

You decided to press her on her reasoning.

Marguerite looks at you sheepishly.

Now Marguerite looks embarrassed.

You aren't intending to scold her, you just want her to learn from the experience so you soften your tone.

You leave Marguerite and settle in at your desk, feeling a sense of relief that you didn't let her pass this manuscript over.

You can't wait to meet this mysterious writer from Alabama.

She may be the rare talent you've been looking for.

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From Wondery, I'm Lindsey Graham, and this is American History Tellers, our history, your story.

In the spring of 1957, an aspiring writer named Nell Harper Lee submitted a manuscript entitled Go Set a Watchman to several New York publishers.

Editor Tay Hohoff saw the promise hiding within Lee's work.

Over the next several months, with Hohoff's guidance, Lee would reshape her manuscript into a breakout novel to kill a mockingbird.

This book was an instant success and soon ignited a countrywide debate about racial injustice, while giving many Northerners a window into small-town Southern life.

A New York Times reviewer said of Lee, Here is a storyteller justifying the novel as a form that transcends time and place.

At that moment, Lee appeared to be a trailblazing new author at the start of a prolific career.

But in the years to come, Lee would not publish another book.