Rhett Butler's People: The Authorized Novel based on Margaret Mitchell's Gone with the Wind

by Donald McCaig Narrated by John Bedford Lloyd

Overview

The bestseller now in trade paperback for the first time to coincide with the publication of the author's new book. Fully authorized by the Margaret Mitchell estate, Rhett Butler's People is the astonishing and long-awaited novel that parallels the Great American Novel, Gone With The Wind. Twelve years in the making, the publication of Rhett Butler's People marks a major and historic cultural event. Through the storytelling mastery of award-winning writer Donald McCaig, the life and times of the dashing Rhett Butler unfolds. Through Rhett's eyes we meet the people who shaped his larger than life personality as it sprang from Margaret Mitchell's unforgettable pages: Langston Butler, Rhett's unyielding father; Rosemary his steadfast sister; Tunis Bonneau, Rhett's best friend and a onetime slave; Belle Watling, the woman for whom Rhett cared long before he met Scarlett O'Hara at Twelve Oaks Plantation, on the fateful eve of the Civil War. Of course there is Scarlett. Katie Scarlett O'Hara, the headstrong, passionate woman whose life is inextricably entwined with Rhett's: more like him than she cares to admit; more in love with him than she'll ever know. Brought to vivid and authentic life by the hand of a master, Rhett Butler's People fulfills the dreams of those whose imaginations have been indelibly marked by Gone With The Wind.

Editorial Reviews

It was the rabid enthusiasm of Margaret Mitchell's fans that forever terminated the possibility of another Gone with the Wind book. The Atlanta author was so unnerved by the persistence of the novel's devotees that she reportedly vowed to never write another word. In any case, her death in 1949, 13 years after the book's publication, forever closed the question of a sequel. Or so it seemed until 1991, when the Margaret Mitchell Estate sanctioned a sequel, Alexandra Ripley's Scarlett. Now, after a protracted search, the estate has fully authorized this stylish retelling of the Gone with the Wind saga through the eyes of Scarlett's beloved Rhett Butler. Find yourself a cozy nook and a cup of hot cocoa, and get ready to curl up for a warm winter read.

Stephen L. Carter

McCaig's prose captures something of the charm and smoothness of the original. He understands that the power of Mitchell's narrative arose because she set the romance against momentous events. He sensibly places the postwar struggle over white supremacy at the heart of his story. But mostly his goal is to rehabilitate Rhett. The Klan question, the woman he dishonored, the rumors of a bastard in New Orleans, the money supposedly pilfered from the Confederate treasury—all of this McCaig explains away while keeping the story moving at a nice clip, faster even than the original.
—The New York Times

Publishers Weekly

Was it strictly necessary to our understanding of Gone With the Wind's dashing hero to flesh out his backstory, replay famous GWTWscenes from his perspective, and crank the plot past the original's astringent denouement? Perhaps not, but it's still a fun ride. In this authorized reimagining, Rhett, disowned son of a cruel South Carolina planter, is still a jaunty worldly-wise charmer, roguish but kind; Scarlett is still feisty, manipulative and neurotic; and the air of besieged decorum is slightly racier. (Rhett: "My dear, you have jam at the corner of your mouth." Scarlett: "Lick it off.") But it says much about the author's sure feel for Margaret Mitchell's magnetic protagonists that they still beguile us. McCaig (Jacob's Ladder) broadens the canvas, giving Rhett new dueling and blockade-running adventures, and adding intriguing characters like Confederate cavalier-turned-Klansman Andrew Ravanel, a rancid version of Ashley Wilkes who romances Rhett's sister, Rosemary. He paints a richer, darker panorama of a Civil War-era South, where poor whites seethe with resentment, and slavery and racism are brutal facts of life that an instinctive gentleman like Rhett can work around but not openly challenge. McCaig thus imparts a Faulknerian tone to the saga that sharpens Mitchell's critique of Southern nostalgia without losing the epic sweep and romantic pathos. The result is an engrossing update of GWTWthat fans of the original will definitely give a damn about. (Nov.)

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From the Publisher

Rhett Butler's People covers the period from 1843 to 1874, nearly two decades more than are chronicled in Gone With the Wind. Readers will...get inside Rhett's head as he meets and courts Scarlett O'Hara in one of the most famous love affairs of all time.” —The New York Times

“McCaig creates a convincing back story and has a real feel for men and the tensions between fathers, sons, friends and soldiers, as well as the nuances of Southern honor…The novel focuses on Rhett's point of view and explains exactly where he got his dash.” —USA Today

“A must-read for Gone with the Wind fans.” —People

“Rhett Butler's People broadens the canvas, giving Rhett new dueling and blockade-running adventures, and adding intriguing characters like Confederate cavalier-turned-Klansman Andrew Ravanel, a rancid version of Ashley Wilkes who romances Rhett's sister, Rosemary. McCaig paints a richer, darker panorama of a Civil War-era South, where poor whites seethe with resentment, and slavery and racism are brutal facts of life that an instinctive gentleman like Rhett can work around but not openly challenge. McCaig thus imparts a Faulknerian tone to the saga that sharpens Mitchell's critique of Southern nostalgia without losing the epic sweep and romantic pathos. The result is an engrossing update of Gone With the Wind that fans of the original will definitely give a damn about.” —Publishers Weekly

“In McCaig's capable hands, Margaret Mitchell's mystery man is still handsome and daring but fitted with a plausible backstory and human frailties…” —Roanoke Times

“Read with eloquence, charisma and a bit of spontaneity tossed by John Bedford Lloyd...With a profusion of drama, action, romance and tragedy, Lloyd gets it right every time and never fails to convey the underlying tension throughout.” —PW, Starred Review

“McCaig is a bred-in-the bones storyteller.” —Pulitzer Prize-winning author Geraldine Brooks

“Different points of view…illuminate familiar scenes…Lloyd excels at accents and emotions.” —AudioFile

“McCaig has taken on a monumental task in attempting to augment the mythology of such a well-loved story…While remaining largely faithful to Mitchell's framework, he has made the story of Butler his own.” —The Post and Courier (Charleston, SC)

“In Gone With the Wind, Butler was mysterious, and that added to his allure. Here, we learn more about his background: about his harsh, unforgiving father; his long-suffering mother; his own wild ways. In some ways, this Rhett is a kinder, gentler sort than the one readers loved…” —Tampa Tribune

“This astonishing novel parallels Gone with the Wind, adding new dimensions to the timeless love story.” —Woodstock Sentinel-Review

Product Details

BN ID:	2940170879717
Publisher:	Recorded Books, LLC
Publication date:	01/16/2018
Edition description:	Unabridged

Read an Excerpt

A Deathwatch
As Melanie Wilkes was dying, Rhett Butler waited in the parlor of his mansion on Peachtree Street, listening to the clock.

It was October. A dark, drizzly afternoon.

His glass of cognac had been distilled from grapes Napoléon's armies might have passed. It tasted like ashes.

The Governor of Georgia, Senators, and United States Congressmen had been entertained in this room. The workman who'd fitted its chair rails had got more pleasure from this house than Rhett ever had.

The big house was quiet as a tomb. After Bonnie died, he'd shunned Ella and Wade. He was afraid he'd look at the living children and think, it might have been you instead of Bonnie. If only it had been you. . . . Mammy and Prissy took the children out of the house to play. When it rained, Ella and Wade played in the carriage house.

He'd quit going to his desk at the Farmer's and Merchants' Bank. Yesterday -- or was it the day before? -- the bank's president had come, deeply worried. Although the Farmer's and Merchants' hadn't invested in the Northern Pacific, when Jay Cooke declared bankruptcy, the New York Stock Exchange collapsed. All over the country, depositors raced to their banks to withdraw their savings. Banks had failed in New York, Philadelphia, Savannah, Charleston, and Nashville. The Farmer's and Merchants' didn't have enough cash to meet the demand.

"Rhett," the president begged, "could you help?"

Rhett Butler pledged his fortune so Farmer's and Merchants' depositors could withdraw their savings in cash -- every cent. Since they could, they didn't.

Rhett didn't care.

The clock chimed the hour: six funereal strokes.

A gust in the still room ruffled the hair on the nape of his neck and Rhett knew Miss Melly was dead.

Melanie Wilkes was one of the few creatures Rhett had ever known who would not be deceived.

As the brown autumnal light leaked out of the room, Rhett lit the gaslights.

Had he loved Scarlett, or had he loved what she might become? Had he deceived himself -- loving the image more than the flesh and blood woman?

Rhett didn't care.

If she had betrayed him again and again with Ashley Wilkes, Rhett didn't care. Ashley was free now. If she still wanted the man, she could have him.

That evening, when Rhett's wife came home from Melanie Wilkes's deathbed, she told her husband she loved him. Scarlett had never said that before, and Rhett may have believed her. But he didn't care. Rhett Butler looked into the pale green eyes that had mesmerized him for so many years and did not give a damn.

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