American novelist Harper Lee has passed away at the age of 89.

Lee is best known for her novel To Kill a Mockingbird and the recently released follow-up, Go Set a Watchman. Lee reportedly passed away early Friday morning at the Monroeville, AL retirement home where she resided.

Lee had immediate success following the release of the 1960 coming-of-age novel To Kill a Mockingbird, which won a Pulitzer Prize.

Photo Credit: Harper Collins Publishing

“The world has lost a brilliant mind and a great writer,” says Spencer Madrie, owner of Ol’ Curiosities and Book Shoppe, a small, independent book store in Lee’s hometown that focuses largely on Lee’s works and those of other Alabama authors, “We will remember Harper Lee for her candor, her talent, and the truths she gave the world, perhaps before the world was ready.  We are grateful to have had a connection to an author who offered so much.  There will always be something missing from Monroeville and the world at large in the absence of Harper Lee.”

Lee’s publisher Random House confirmed the news on Twitter, saying that “today we lost a beautiful writer. RIP Harper Lee.”