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Posted by Faye Bell on September 11, 2001 at 21:00:13:
The Next "GONE WITH THE WIND"
THE STATE OF VIRIGINIA'S DONALD McCAIG CHOSEN TO WRITE NEXT SEQUEL TO MITCHELL'S CLASSIC: By Richard Foster
Richmond Magazine has confirmed that Virginia author Donald McCaig has been selected by the Margaret Mitchell estate to write the next authorized sequel to "Gone With the Wind." Thomas D. Selz, a partner with the New York law firm representing the Mitchell estate, said Monday that McCaig "has been engaged to write the next sequel." While Selz said the estate was "very involved" in McCaig's selection, he would not say why McCaig was chosen or how many other writers were considered for the choice assignment.
Reached at his farm in Highland County in western Virginia, McCaig would not comment on the book, saying he makes it a practice not to talk about works in progress.
McCaig wrote the acclaimed 1998 Civil War novel "Jacob's Ladder" as well as a series of popular books about sheepdogs including "Nop's Hope." He is also well-known as a commentator for National Public Radio.
McCaig's book will be the second "Gone With the Wind" sequel. The first, "Scarlett," was published in 1991 and written by Charlottesville writer Alexandra Ripley.
"Don McCaig is just a rare human being. I'm really overwhelmed by the choice," says Mary Rose Taylor of the Margaret Mitchell House in Atlanta, where McCaig was the first author to speak when the house opened to the public in 1998. "Here's definitely a man who has an enormous respect for history coupled with a great love for land and for nature. I find that to be a magical combination."
Fan reaction to McCaig's selection is already favorable, too. "I'm impressed," says local "Gone With the Wind" collector John Wiley, whose quarterly newsletter, "The Scarlett Letter," goes out to 600 subscribers worldwide. "Based on 'Jacob's Ladder,' I think this could be interesting."
Fans have been speculating about the sequel, which reportedly will be told from Rhett Butler's point of view. "I think [fans are] going to want Rhett and Scarlett to get back together, and I realize this is heresy," Wiley adds, but, I don't think they got back together. We don't know what happened to them. I think if there's any pitfall in doing the sequel, it's that every reader has a different idea, and you're never going to be able to satisfy everyone. My hat's off to [McCaig] for trying."