Free quiz: Before They Were Famous Authors

Airline booking agent

Public defender

Trainee nurse

All of the above

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Nelle Harper Lee was born in Monroeville, Alabama. Her parents chose her middle name, Harper, to honor the doctor who had saved the life of her older sister Louise. Nelle was her grandmother's name spelled backwards. Nelle attended Huntingdon College in Montgomery for a year, and then transferred to the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, where she studied law for several years, dropping out one semester short of completing her degree.

In 1949, aged 23, she moved to New York City where she first worked in a bookstore and later as an airline reservation agent. She published a few short stories and found an agent but was struggling to find the time to write. This changed on Christmas Day, 1957 when she opened an envelope from close friends, Broadway lyricist and composer Michael Brown and his wife Joy, which read "You have one year off from your job to write whatever you please. Merry Christmas." Harper Lee wrote about the importance of this gift in an article in 1961 (link opens in a new window), but the names of her generous friends remained a secret until 2012.

Photo by Truman Capote (a childhood friend), from the first edition of To Kill a Mockingbird (1960)
Sorry, not correct.

The correct answer is Airline booking agent.

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Nelle Harper Lee was born in Monroeville, Alabama. Her parents chose her middle name, Harper, to honor the doctor who had saved the life of her older sister Louise. Nelle was her grandmother's name spelled backwards. Nelle attended Huntingdon College in Montgomery for a year, and then transferred to the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, where she studied law for several years, dropping out one semester short of completing her degree.

In 1949, aged 23, she moved to New York City where she first worked in a bookstore and later as an airline reservation agent. She published a few short stories and found an agent but was struggling to find the time to write. This changed on Christmas Day, 1957 when she opened an envelope from close friends, Broadway lyricist and composer Michael Brown and his wife Joy, which read "You have one year off from your job to write whatever you please. Merry Christmas." Harper Lee wrote about the importance of this gift in an article in 1961 (link opens in a new window), but the names of her generous friends remained a secret until 2012.

Photo by Truman Capote (a childhood friend), from the first edition of To Kill a Mockingbird (1960)
Sorry, not correct.

The correct answer is Airline booking agent.

Scroll down for Next Question button

Nelle Harper Lee was born in Monroeville, Alabama. Her parents chose her middle name, Harper, to honor the doctor who had saved the life of her older sister Louise. Nelle was her grandmother's name spelled backwards. Nelle attended Huntingdon College in Montgomery for a year, and then transferred to the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, where she studied law for several years, dropping out one semester short of completing her degree.

In 1949, aged 23, she moved to New York City where she first worked in a bookstore and later as an airline reservation agent. She published a few short stories and found an agent but was struggling to find the time to write. This changed on Christmas Day, 1957 when she opened an envelope from close friends, Broadway lyricist and composer Michael Brown and his wife Joy, which read "You have one year off from your job to write whatever you please. Merry Christmas." Harper Lee wrote about the importance of this gift in an article in 1961 (link opens in a new window), but the names of her generous friends remained a secret until 2012.

Photo by Truman Capote (a childhood friend), from the first edition of To Kill a Mockingbird (1960)
Sorry, not correct.

The correct answer is Airline booking agent.

Scroll down for Next Question button

Nelle Harper Lee was born in Monroeville, Alabama. Her parents chose her middle name, Harper, to honor the doctor who had saved the life of her older sister Louise. Nelle was her grandmother's name spelled backwards. Nelle attended Huntingdon College in Montgomery for a year, and then transferred to the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, where she studied law for several years, dropping out one semester short of completing her degree.

In 1949, aged 23, she moved to New York City where she first worked in a bookstore and later as an airline reservation agent. She published a few short stories and found an agent but was struggling to find the time to write. This changed on Christmas Day, 1957 when she opened an envelope from close friends, Broadway lyricist and composer Michael Brown and his wife Joy, which read "You have one year off from your job to write whatever you please. Merry Christmas." Harper Lee wrote about the importance of this gift in an article in 1961 (link opens in a new window), but the names of her generous friends remained a secret until 2012.

Photo by Truman Capote (a childhood friend), from the first edition of To Kill a Mockingbird (1960)

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