Margaret Mitchell and Gone With The Wind

A friend reviewed Road To Tara recently, a fine biography of Margaret Mitchell. She was a storyteller from an early age, but the only novel she ever published was Gone With The Wind. According to Road To Tara, much of what she wrote about was autobiographical.

Her father's family was Scottish and her Mother's family was Irish. Her grandfather, Russsell Crawford Mitchell served in the Confederate Army and was severely wounded at Sharpsburg.

Ashley Wilkes character was based on a young man she knew who was killed in WWI. Her first husband was the prototype of Rhett Butler. The traumatic events in Scarlett O'Hara's life had actually happened to her, including the events surrounding Mitchell's own Mother's death.

The scene when Rhett leaves for good in the fog at the end of the book, happened when her first husband walked out on her one foggy day.

I am rereading GWTW at present and I think it will be fun to read Road To Tara next!