To Kill a Mockingbird is  set in the fictional town of Maycomb, AL, during the Great Depression. Jean Louise (“Scout”) Finch, an intelligent and unconventional girl, and her brother, Jem, are raised by their widowed father, Atticus Finch, a prominent lawyer who encourages his children to be empathetic and just. When Tom Robinson, a Black man, is falsely accused of raping Mayella Ewell, a white woman, Atticus agrees to defend him despite threats from the community. Although Atticus’s defense is strong, Tom is convicted, and he is later killed while trying to escape custody. A character compares his death to “the senseless slaughter of songbirds,” which echoes Atticus’s comment to his children that it is “a sin to kill a mockingbird.”

To Kill a Mockingbird was praised for its sensitive treatment of a child’s awakening to racism and prejudice in the American South. Enormously popular, it was translated into some 40 languages and sold more than 30 million copies worldwide. In 1961 it won a Pulitzer Prize.