![Bush Awards Presidential Medal of Freedom Harper Lee in 2007.](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/harper-lee.jpg?quality=85&w=2400)
The first chapter of Harper Lee’s Go Set a Watchman debuted on The Wall Street Journal and The Guardian Friday.
Readers can preview the book by reading the text version or listening to an audio edition, narrated by Reese Witherspoon, on either sites.
According to U.S. publisher HarperCollins, pre-orders for the novel, which marks Lee’s first published work in over 50 years, are at a record-high for the company.
The 1950s-set sequel revives To Kill a Mockingbird characters Atticus Finch and Scout and picks up 20 years after where Mockingbird left off.
The WSJ reports that extra security measures have been taken to protect the release of Lee’s high-profile novel, which is set to hit bookstores July 14. Copies are currently being held in shrink-wrapped boxes and monitored by closed-circuit televisions.
Bookstores and libraries are planning to hold off until the very last minute before shelving copies of Go Set a Watchman on the day of its release. The book will be published in both American and British editions, as well as translated in Spanish, Dutch, Swedish, Korean and other foreign languages.
Read or listen to an excerpt from the novel’s first chapter on The Guardian or The Wall Street Journal.
This article originally appeared on The Hollywood Reporter
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