NEW YORK (AP) — Decades after the publication of “Gone With the Wind,” Mammy is finally getting a back story.
Simon & Schuster imprint Atria announced Thursday that it will publish Donald McCaig’s “Ruth’s Journey” in October. A prequel to Margaret Mitchell’s million-selling 1936 novel, the book was authorized by Mitchell’s estate. McCaig previously wrote an authorized spinoff focused on Rhett Butler, “Rhett’s People.”
“Ruth’s Journey” will track Scarlett O’Hara’s no-nonsense servant’s life from her arrival in Georgia in the early 19th century. In 1939, Mammy was immortalized on film by Hattie McDaniel, who became the first black performer to win an Academy Award. Mitchell’s novel was often criticized for romanticizing antebellum life and for its one-dimensional portraits of blacks.
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I very much want to read “Ruth’s Journey. ”
Mammy was probably my favorite character in “Gone with the Wind.”
I always got the feeling that things at Tara would have imploded fast if something had happened to incapacitate Mammy. And, my, but did she have her very capable hands full, trying to keep Miss Scarlett out of trouble. And she succeeded an admirable number of times.
In the novel, a young Scarlett admitted that she didn’t remember “ever being able to fool Mammy for long.” Even the worldly-wise Rhett respects Mammy and aspires to win her approval.
You have to wonder what Mammy could have been able to accomplish in a different place and time.
I can definitely see her as U.S. Attorney General.
I’ll be interested to see what her earlier, pre-Tara life was like, particularly her introduction to Gerald O’Hara, who hasn’t her young charge Ellen Robilliard’s first choice of a husband.
I’ll be eagerly awaiting the chance to read this book.