Reese Witherspoon to narrate Harper Lee audio book

NEW YORK – Harper Lee‘s upcoming novel, the year’s most talked about literary release, will have some added star power for the audio edition: Reese Witherspoon.

The Oscar-winning actress will narrate Lee’s Go Set a Watchman, HarperCollins announced Thursday.

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Lee, 88, stunned the world by agreeing to the release of Go Set a Watchman, scheduled for July and her only published work besides To Kill a Mockingbird, which came out in 1960. The new book was completed before Mockingbird, but takes place in the 1950s, 20 years after the setting for her first novel. Both books feature Atticus Finch, Scout and other famous literary characters.

Witherspoon, a Louisiana native, said in a statement that she considered it “an honour and privilege to give voice to the Southern characters” she had loved since childhood.