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.
The characters of Scarlett, Rhett, Ashley, and others are so much a part of American literary and cinematic history that anything that tries to expand on them or their stories might be listened to with skepticism. Rhett's people include his tyrannical father; his loyal sister, Rosemary; his friend, the Confederate hero Andrew Ravenel; and Belle Watling, the Butler overseer's daughter, all of whom are given voices by John Bedford Lloyd. Different points of view (for example, those of Bonnie Blue and Melanie) illuminate familiar scenes. Long after the war is over, old resentments catch up with Rhett and threaten to ruin his newfound happiness with Scarlett, who seems chastened. Lloyd excels at accents and emotions; only the narrative parts seem a bit forced at times. Curiosity alone should recommend this "piggyback" audio. J.B.G. (c) AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine
About the Author
Donald McCaig has written several acclaimed novels about the Civil War, including Jacob’s Ladder, which has been called “the best civil war novel ever written” by the Virginia Quarterly. McCaig spent six years researching and writing Rhett Butler’s People.
