In praise of Tay Hohoff

The deicdedly muted reaction to the publication of Harper Lee’s other novel, Go Set a Watchman, confirms how wise her editor was on first seeing it back in 1957.

The draft, the editor said, would not make for a good novel, but instead there were elements in it that could make something rather better. And so we got To Kill a Mockingbird.

That story has now been repeatedly told, but often without naming the editor who in one judgement did more for literature than most authors manage in their lifetime.

So time for a little praise for Tay Hohoff.