Reese Witherspoon will be the voice of the new Scout

Reese Witherspoon will give voice to the adult Scout — and all the other characters — in Harper Lee’s new novel, “Go Set a Watchman.” Witherspoon, an Oscar-winning actress, will narrate the audiobook version.

“As a Southerner, it is an honor and privilege to give voice to the Southern characters who inspired my childhood love of reading, Scout and Atticus Finch,” Witherspoon said in a statement. “I am eager for readers to be transported to a pivotal time in American history in the manner that only Harper Lee’s gorgeous prose can deliver.”

The audiobook, published by Harper Audio, will be released simultaneously with the novel, published by HarperCollins, on July 14, USA Today reports.

“Go Set a Watchman” is the first novel by Lee since “To Kill a Mockingbird” was published in 1960. The latter book, which deals with racial injustice and intolerance in the American South as seen by young tomboy Scout, won the Pulitzer Prize and has sold more than 40 million copies.

Lee, now 88, has lived quietly outside of the public eye for those five decades. Concerns raised about the author’s capacity in regards to publishing the rediscovered “Go Set a Watchman” manuscript have been forsworn by Alabama authorities.

Witherspoon most recently appeared in two literary adaptations: “Wild,” Cheryl Strayed’s memoir, and “Inherent Vice,” Paul Thomas Anderson’s film version of the novel by Thomas Pynchon.

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