It is told through the eyes of the lawyer's young daughter, Scout, for whom her father, Atticus Finch, is an unbending symbol of moral courage and virtue. To Kill a Mockingbird, to the very few people who haven't read the book or seen the film, is the story of a white lawyer in the 1930s struggling to defend a wrongly-accused black man in America's Deep South. The most pre-ordered title on Amazon since the final Harry Potter book and subject to the sort of social -media hype that would make most writers sick with envy, Go Set a Watchman began its final journey to publishing sensation when Lee's lawyer discovered it with the original Mockingbird manuscript in a safety deposit box. Her sequel – coming 55 years later – is Go Set a Watchman. Lee, author of To Kill a Mockingbird, and so often labelled with the 'one-hit wonder' tag (the kind that sells 40 million copies worldwide) has been a cult figure to many aspiring writers ever since her iconic novel was published in 1960. Twenty-four-hour protection may not be commonplace for octogenarians in nursing homes in Alabama – but none house a Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist who just this week released one of the most eagerly awaited blockbuster novels with a – hold on to your hats – US print run of two million.

The officer’s remit is less to keep the famed author in, than to keep others out. At 89 years old, and disabled after suffering a stroke eight years ago, Lee herself is no flight risk. A security guard keeps watch outside the nursing home where writer Harper Lee resides in Monroeville, Alabama.

I am scout by charles j shields