Harper Lee, whose 1961 novel To Kill a Mockingbird, became a national icon and the defining writing on the racial troubles of the American South, died at the age of 89. In recent years, Lee had experienced diminishing health after a stroke left her partially paralyzed and needed a wheelchair. She also had lost 95% of her eyesight.

Lee was born April 28, 1926, in Monroeville, Alabama as the youngest of four children, to attorney Amasa Coleman Lee and Frances Cunningham Finch Lee.

As a child, Harper Lee attended elementary school and high school just a few blocks from her house on Alabama Avenue and went to the University of Alabama for her bachelor’s degree in English Literature.

She moved to New York in 1949, where she worked as an airlines bookings assistant, where she started a writing career. Eight years later, Lee presented “To Kill a Mockingbird” to J.B. Lippincott & Co., which asked her to change it. On July 11, 1960, “To Kill a Mockingbird“ was printed by Lippincott with critical acclaim. She won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction the following year.

Lee’s novel tells the story of small-town attorney Atticus Finch of Maycomb, Alabama, which is based on Monroeville, and his kids, Scout and Jem. Told from Scout’s point of view, the novel displays the goodness of children growing up in the early 1930s. It also portrays the various social classes that existed and brought the undercurrents of racism to light.

The novel also motivated a generation of attorneys with its depiction of the kind, sensible Atticus Finch, who defends a black man, Tom Robinson, wrongly accused of raping Mayella Ewell, a white woman. Meanwhile, the Finches’ creepy neighbor, Boo Radley, who strikes fear in Scout’s and Jem’s hearts, turns out not to be the beast the kids imagine.

The film version of the story, with Gregory Peck as Atticus Finch and Mary Badham as Scout, was released on Christmas of 1962 and was an instant success. It was nominated for eight Academy Awards and won four, including Best Actor for Gregory Peck and Best Screenplay for Horton Foote, who created the script for the film based on the novel. Lee became good friends with both of them.

But from the second Mockingbird was printed, to almost instant success, Lee regularly avoided the public eye and claimed that she had no intent of releasing further works to be a “one-book literary wonder.” That isolation ended sharply when, amid substantial controversy, it was revealed a year ago that a second book had been discovered, which was published as “Go Set a Watchman” in July 2015.

More than half a century after its publication, To Kill a Mockingbird continues to be studied by high school and college students all around the world. It has sold more than 30 million copies, still selling nearly a million copies per year, and has been interpreted into more than 40 languages.

Today, the world says goodbye to Harper Lee, who lead a quiet life, but whose legacy spoke volumes.