‘Go Set a Watchman’ books withdrawn over missing text

Harper Lee fans are being forced to wait a little bit longer for the author’s second novel as problems with a print run appear to have left blank lines in some copies of ‘Go Set a Watchman’.

In a note to booksellers nationwide, Easons said issues with a delivery of the much-anticipated sequel to 'To Kill a Mockingbird' means stores across Ireland will not get their shipments until Saturday at the earliest.

The printing flaw left a number of sentences unfinished and saw whole paragraphs omitted.

The flagship Easons store on O’Connell Street currently has no copies of the novel in stock, and any purchasers experiencing problems with books they have bought are entitled to a full refund or replacement.

It is expected that the correct version will be fully-stocked by Saturday. The problem appears to be confined to a small number of suppliers with other bookstores reporting no issues with their consignments.

Online retailer Amazon has also contacted affected customers offering free replacements, and many readers have taken to social media to make known their dissatisfaction.

The new release went on sale in Ireland on Tuesday, and has performed strongly worldwide as avid readers scramble to get their hands on the sister tale to Harper Lee’s classic 1960 depiction of racial injustice in America’s deep south.

‘Go Set a Watchman’ features many of the same characters from the original novel as their older selves, and the script was reportedly lost for a number of decades before finally being rediscovered and serialised this year.