But who is this enigmatic woman, now 76, whose message of tolerance, shared humanity and resolve in the face of conformist pressure never has been more timely? How does she live her life, and why has she chosen to spend it in relative anonymity? And, perhaps the most-asked question of all: Why has one of the most successful and affecting American novelists of all time elected never to publish another book?In the wake of the work's "One Book, One Chicago" run, which culminated in a weeklong series of events that Lee -- as she almost always does -- declined to attend, the Tribune went searching for answers.Characteristically, Lee declined comment for this story.But, over the past year, through extensive reporting and rare interviews with Harper Lee's older sister, Alice Finch Lee, and some of Harper Lee's close friends, all of whom granted unprecedented access to the details of the author's life, a portrait of a remarkable woman emerged: a woman who divides her year between small-town Alabama and New York City; who often is labeled a recluse yet crisscrosses Manhattan by city bus and goes, unnoticed, to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, to baseball games and restaurants; who reads voraciously, especially history, but does not discuss what, if anything, she might be writing when she works at her Royal manual typewriter; and who relishes fishing, golf and University of Alabama football.
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