''Rhett Butler's People'' by

Donald McCaig Donald McCaig (May 1, 1940 in Butte, Montana – November 11, 2018) was an American novelist, poet, essayist and sheepdog trainer. Early life and education McCaig was born in Butte, Montana and served in the United States Marine Corps for two ye ...

is an authorized sequel to the 1936 novel ''

Gone with the Wind Gone with the Wind most often refers to: * ''Gone with the Wind'' (novel), a 1936 novel by Margaret Mitchell * ''Gone with the Wind'' (film), the 1939 adaptation of the novel Gone with the Wind may also refer to: Music * ''Gone with the Wind'' ...

''. It was published in November 2007. Fully authorized by the

Margaret Mitchell Margaret Munnerlyn Mitchell (November 8, 1900 – August 16, 1949) was an American novelist and journalist. Mitchell wrote only one novel, published during her lifetime, the American Civil War-era novel ''Gone With the Wind (novel), Gone with t ...

estate Estate or The Estate may refer to: Law * Estate (law), a term in common law for a person's property, entitlements and obligations * Estates of the realm, a broad social category in the histories of certain countries. ** The Estates, representat ...

, ''Rhett Butler’s People'' is a novel that parallels ''Gone with the Wind'' from

Rhett Butler Rhett Butler (Born in 1828) is a fictional character in the 1936 novel ''Gone with the Wind'' by Margaret Mitchell and in the 1939 film adaptation of the same name. It is one of Clark Gable's most recognizable and significant roles. Role Rhe ...

's perspective. The book was unveiled on November 3, 2007, after several years of setbacks and two previous authors. Both

Emma Tennant Emma Christina Tennant FRSL (20 October 1937 – 21 January 2017) was an English novelist and editor of Scottish extraction, known for a post-modern approach to her fiction, often imbued with fantasy or magic. Several of her novels give a femi ...

and

Pat Conroy Donald Patrick Conroy (October 26, 1945 – March 4, 2016) was an American author who wrote several acclaimed novels and memoirs; his books '' The Water is Wide'', '' The Lords of Discipline'', '' The Prince of Tides'' and '' The Great Santini'' ...

had previously been commissioned by the estate to produce the book. McCaig chose to disregard the 1991 novel ''

Scarlett Scarlett is the female name that has originated from the colour scarlet. It may refer to: People * Scarlett (given name), a feminine name * Scarlett (surname) * Scarlett (gamer) (Sasha Hostyn), professional video game player Fictional charac ...

'' by

Alexandra Ripley Alexandra Ripley ( Braid; January 8, 1934 – January 10, 2004) was an American writer best known as the author of '' Scarlett'' (1991), written as a sequel to '' Gone with the Wind''. Her first novel was ''Who's the Lady in the President's Bed ...

. He does not acknowledge its existence in the

canon Canon or Canons may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Canon (fiction), the conceptual material accepted as official in a fictional universe by its fan base * Literary canon, an accepted body of works considered as high culture ** Western can ...

of ''Gone with the Wind'', nor does his novel incorporate any of its characters. McCaig's impression was that the Margaret Mitchell estate was "thoroughly embarrassed" by Ripley's novel.

Plot

''Rhett Butler's People'' attempts to present a semi-journalistic view of the life and times of Rhett Butler, while remaining faithful to the original Mitchell work. The Rhett-

love-story is downplayed. The novel begins with a

duel A duel is an arranged engagement in combat between two people, with matched weapons, in accordance with agreed-upon Code duello, rules. During the 17th and 18th centuries (and earlier), duels were mostly single combats fought with swords (the r ...

which is mentioned in ''Gone with the Wind''; this is the reason that Rhett is not received in

Charleston Charleston most commonly refers to: * Charleston, South Carolina * Charleston, West Virginia, the state capital * Charleston (dance) Charleston may also refer to: Places Australia * Charleston, South Australia Canada * Charleston, Newfoun ...

society. He participates in a duel against Belle Watling's brother, who is certain that Rhett is the father of his sister's unborn child. Eventually the novel flashes back to when Rhett was twelve years old. He never had a good relationship with his father, Langston Butler, and often refused to go to Charleston with his father. His father often punished Rhett due to his lack of cooperative skills as his eldest son. Instead, Rhett spends time in the slaves quarters where he enjoys his time with Will (a slave). One day, Will gets firmly punished due to disobedience towards a white overseer. Rhett, unable to see his friend getting whipped continuously and having no power to stop it, takes the boat to escape the chaos, and vows to grow up and never be helpless again. The novel continues through the time covered by ''Gone with the Wind'' and retells the story. The story is not told solely from Rhett's perspective. It proceeds to relate other moments from the time during the original novel and then adds a new ending. The book only goes a short way past the timeline of ''Gone with the Wind'' (unlike the sequel ''Scarlett'', which travels several years further).

Reception

Melissa Whitworth of ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was f ...

'' described McCaig's Butler as "touchy-feely". In ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', Stephen Carter noted that the character of Rhett Butler was made into a more human, flawed person than either Mitchell or Ripley portrayed him to be. However, he stated that the novel transformed Rhett from the man of mystery that drew readers to him into "a version of the angst-ridden, on-the-make, love-struck antihero of modern fiction: Rhett Butler as channeled by Rabbit Angstrom f ''Rabbit, Run''">Rabbit,_Run.html" ;"title="f ''Rabbit, Run">f ''Rabbit, Run''or T. S. Garp [of ''The World According to Garp'']." He then wondered if such a Rhett was one wanted by readers.

References

External links

Official Site for ''Rhett Butler's People''
{{Authority control Sequel novels 2007 American novels Works based on Gone with the Wind Novels set in Atlanta Novels set during the American Civil War