Bookstore offers refunds on latest Harper Lee book

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August 6, 2015 7:31 AM

Brilliant Books in Michigan says customers are owed apologies for portrayal of Harper Lee’s long-lost manuscript as a ‘nice summer novel’ rather than an academic curiosity.

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Brilliant Books in Michigan in the U.S is offering refunds to customers who bought the newly released Harper Lee novel 'Go Set a Watchman' because it feels the volume is "not a sequel or a prequel to To Kill a Mockingbird. Neither is it a new book."

Store owner Peter Makin told the Free Press in email that he decided to refund customers' money when on the day the novel was published, July 14, a woman, coming in to pick up her pre-ordered copy, "told me she had heard things about the book that had made her unsure if she wanted to read it at all. It wasn't 'Harper Lee's New Novel.' Her disappointment was palpable, so I immediately apologized for being complicit in the marketing and offered her a refund, which she accepted.

"I realized then that we needed to offer the same thing to all our customers, of which there were dozens across the country, and explain why," Makin wrote.

The bookstore has a policy to stand by its book recommendations. For example, all Brilliant Book Monthly Selections are guaranteed though not many are returned.

"We are not offering refunds based on the quality of the (Harper Lee) book or its content. We are offering refunds to those who bought the book based on marketing that led them to believe it was something other than what it actually was," Makin said. "If you find yourself complicit in misleading a customer, you should make amends. Again, this isn't about whether they liked the book. Its about being misled by the marketing."

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