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A charming book that describes things from the POV of a feisty but loveable 13 year old girl called ‘Scout�. I won’t outline the plot as others have already done that quite adequately, but the story is set in a small town, in the Southern state of Alabama, where there is a mix of black and white people but power rests overwhelmingly with the white folk � a hangover from the slaving days in the 19th century.

The main focus is on the Finch family: Atticus, who is a lawyer (attorney), his young daughter ‘Scout�, and his son ‘Jem�. Atticus raises his children by setting an example of compassion and tolerance, and this is how he conducts himself in his dealings with people generally. He repeatedly advocates the need for empathy, to walk in the other's shoes awhile before forming an opinion.
It has been said that 99% of lawyers get the rest a bad name, and if so Atticus is definitely one of the rest (the 1%). He is an honest, intelligent, and compassionate man who lives by the Christian principles of love and acceptance.

However, most of the small town folk, although allegedly believers, are very backward and they resent the blacks having liberty. The problem is that many of the the community are quite unenlightened and ruthless in their perpetuation of backward ways, whereby the whites have everything and the blacks next to nothing. This attitude is attractive to even the lowest echelons of the white population (‘trash�), who might be powerless amongst their own folk but can at least dominate and persecute the black people. This principle of black subordination becomes central to the story when an innocent black man is accused of rape (a capital offence) by a most despicable example of the white ‘trash�.

Scout’s POV is used throughout and this is what makes it such a marvellous book. The author is of course an adult, and she creates a wonderful story that is largely based on her own experiences. I did some cursory research and it seems that the author, Harper Lee, was born and raised in a small town in Alabama, in which her father was a lawyer. So in a way this story is true, only the facts have been changed!