Prologue

I n the summer of 2005, I was having coffee at Burger King with

Harper Lee.
By that time, we were friends and next-door neighbors in her
hometown of Monroeville, Alabama. We’d first met in 2001, when I
was on assignment for the Chicago Tribune. I had developed a rapport
with Nelle, as her friends call her, and her sister Alice. Over time, the
idea of my writing a book about the Lee sisters, with their guidance,
had taken root in our conversations. With their blessing, I had rented
the house next door.
At the time of our Burger King visit, Nelle was growing increas-
ingly resentful and anxious about a coming unauthorized biography
and two Truman Capote movies in the works. I think the combination
of those events encouraged her to open up to me even more. I wasn’t
an unknown quantity but someone she knew and trusted, sitting
across the table from her.
I wouldn’t have been sitting there if I had included anything she had
said was off the record in my newspaper article, or if I had pushed her
to divulge things she felt were no one’s business. Even the fact that I’d
never asked her to autograph a copy of To Kill a Mockingbird for me fac-

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 Marja Mills

tored in. I didn’t feel I was entitled to more from her than she wanted to
share. I wanted to hear as much as she was willing to share, of course.
But I didn’t push it. That patience seemed to ease Nelle’s mind.
“I know what you can call your book,” she told me, leaning in and
stabbing her finger in the air, as she liked to do when making a point.
“Having Their Say. I know they used it with the Delaney sisters but
titles aren’t copyrightable.” Nelle beamed.
Having Our Say: The Delaney Sisters’ First 100 Years was a bestselling
book about two African American sisters, one sweet and one salty,
looking back on their lives.
In this scenario, Alice, her elder sister by fifteen years—sharp and
still practicing law in her nineties—was the sweet one. Nelle was the
saltier one. I smiled. I didn’t take it as a mandate for the title but rather
as a measure of Nelle’s enthusiasm.
I was delighted they were ready to have their say, in any measure,
and to look back on their lives. It has been a privilege to get to know
the sisters, their family, their friends, their hometown, and their pas-
sions. With the Lees as my teachers, I learned more about literature,
family, history, faith, friendship, and fun than I did in any classroom.
This book is my attempt to tell the story of my time with the Lees
and to honor all that they shared with me. I could not have done it
without the trust, support, and encouragement of Nelle and Alice Lee
and their closest friends.
To the best of my ability, I have let them have their say. All humor
and erudition should be credited to the Lees. Any errors are my own.

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