3.5
Furious Hours
ByPublisher Description
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • This “superbly written true-crime story” (The New York Times Book Review) masterfully brings together the tales of a serial killer in 1970s Alabama and of Harper Lee, the beloved author of To Kill a Mockingbird, who tried to write his story.
Reverend Willie Maxwell was a rural preacher accused of murdering five of his family members, but with the help of a savvy lawyer, he escaped justice for years until a relative assassinated him at the funeral of his last victim. Despite hundreds of witnesses, Maxwell’s murderer was acquitted—thanks to the same attorney who had previously defended the reverend himself. Sitting in the audience during the vigilante’s trial was Harper Lee, who spent a year in town reporting on the Maxwell case and many more trying to finish the book she called The Reverend.
Cep brings this remarkable story to life, from the horrifying murders to the courtroom drama to the racial politics of the Deep South, while offering a deeply moving portrait of one of our most revered writers.
Reverend Willie Maxwell was a rural preacher accused of murdering five of his family members, but with the help of a savvy lawyer, he escaped justice for years until a relative assassinated him at the funeral of his last victim. Despite hundreds of witnesses, Maxwell’s murderer was acquitted—thanks to the same attorney who had previously defended the reverend himself. Sitting in the audience during the vigilante’s trial was Harper Lee, who spent a year in town reporting on the Maxwell case and many more trying to finish the book she called The Reverend.
Cep brings this remarkable story to life, from the horrifying murders to the courtroom drama to the racial politics of the Deep South, while offering a deeply moving portrait of one of our most revered writers.
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Meet readers like you in the Fable For You feed, designed to build bookish communities961 Reviews
3.5

Angry Hannah
Created 15 days agoShare
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Emm
Created 15 days agoShare
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“I read To Kill A Mockingbird in one day, and I loved it. I listened to this book in a day and a half and I loved it. I loved learning about this serial killer, what he did, and how Harper Lee was involved. I also loved learning more about her incredible life. A read for anyone who loves true crime and a little bit of biographies!”

Terramarrie
Created 16 days agoShare
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Katie Preiser
Created 22 days agoShare
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“Glad I read it, could have stopped about 50 pages shorter than it did. Overall thought provoking.”

Sammi Jo
Created about 1 month agoShare
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About Casey Cep
Casey Cep is a staff writer at The New Yorker. After graduating from Harvard with a degree in English, she earned an M.Phil in theology at Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar. She lives on the Eastern Shore of Maryland with her family. Furious Hoursis her first book. www.caseycep.com
Other books by Casey Cep
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