Reese Witherspoon to narrate new novel by Harper Lee

attends the 87th Annual Academy Awards at Hollywood & Highland Center on February 22, 2015 in Hollywood, California. Reese Witherspoon at the 87th annual Academy Awards earlier this year.

Credit: Suzanne Van Atten

Credit: Suzanne Van Atten

attends the 87th Annual Academy Awards at Hollywood & Highland Center on February 22, 2015 in Hollywood, California. Reese Witherspoon at the 87th annual Academy Awards earlier this year.

According to a report in USA Today, Reese Witherspoon will narrate the audio version of Harper Lee's highly anticipated novel, "Go Set a Watchman." Both the book and the unabridged audio version publish on July 14.

The book has generated a great deal of controversy, including accusations of elder abuse, which were dismissed by investigators with the Alabama Securities Commission. The 88-year-old author of "To Kill a Mockingbird" lives in an assisted living facility in Monroeville, Ala., and has been famously media shy for decades. The "forgotten" novel  -- a sequel to "Mockingbird" that was, in fact, written before "Mockingbird" -- is being published by HarperCollins.

See the vintage cover design for "Go Set a Watchman" here.

View a gallery of images from the life of Harper Lee and "To Kill a Mockingbird" here.

Actress Reese Witherspoon has signed on to narrate the audio version of the year's hottest book, Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee.

The unabridged audio version will be released simultaneously with the book on July 14 by Caedmon Audio, an imprint of HarperAudio. Witherspoon is set to hit the recording studio this month.

Lee's new novel, written in the 1950s but recently rediscovered, is a sequel to her classic To Kill a Mockingbird.