Donald McCaig (1940–2018)

Donald McCaig is the award-winning author of Canaan as well as Jacob’s Ladder, designated “the best Civil War novel ever written” by the Virginia Quarterly. It won the Michael Shaara Award for Excellence in Civil War Fiction and the Library of Virginia Award for Fiction. He was chosen by the Margaret Mitchell estate to write Rhett Butler’s People, an authorized sequel to Gone with the Wind. He lives on a sheep farm in the mountains near Williamsville, Virginia, where he writes fiction, essays, and poetry, and trains and trials sheep dogs. (added from Simon & Schuster)… (more)

Donald McCaig is the award-winning author of Canaan as well as Jacob’s Ladder, designated “the best Civil War novel ever written” by the Virginia Quarterly. It won the Michael Shaara Award for Excellence in Civil War Fiction and the Library of Virginia Award for Fiction. He was chosen by the Margaret Mitchell estate to write Rhett Butler’s People, an authorized sequel to Gone with the Wind. He lives on a sheep farm in the mountains near Williamsville, Virginia, where he writes fiction, essays, and poetry, and trains and trials sheep dogs. (added from Simon & Schuster)… (more)

For more than seventy-five years, Mammy from Margaret Mitchell’s Gone With the Wind has endured as one of the most memorable and intriguing characters in literature. Now the Margaret Mitchell Estate has authorized Donald McCaig's Ruth's Journey: The Story of Mammy from Gone with the Wind, the first novel to tell Mammy’s own remarkable story. Before Tara, before Scarlett and Rhett, before she was called Mammy, she was simply Ruth.

Born on a Caribbean island in the throes of revolution, Ruth comes of age in Savannah as the property of Solange Fournier, a formidable French émigré who instructs her in the manners and deportment of Southern society. Ruth’s early marriage to a free black man in Charleston ends in violence and tragedy, resulting in her return to Savannah and Solange, who is now married to wealthy Pierre Robillard. Solange’s daughter Ellen will become the center of Mammy Ruth’s life. Following Ellen’s unexpected marriage to rough Irishman Gerald O’Hara, she and Mammy move to Tara, transforming the ramshackle plantation into a gracious and elegant home. There, Mammy will raise a new generation of O’Hara girls, including the strong-willed Katie Scarlett. Arriving at Tara, Mammy narrates the rest of the story in her own unmistakable voice—drawing her tale to a close in the days following the Twelve Oaks barbecue, as Georgia secedes from the Union, the march to war becomes unstoppable, and the story of Gone With the Wind begins.

Donald McCaig is the award-winning author of Canaan as well as Jacob’s Ladder, designated “the best Civil War novel ever written” by the Virginia Quarterly. It won the Michael Shaara Award for Excellence in Civil War Fiction and the Library of Virginia Award for Fiction. He was chosen by the Margaret Mitchell estate to write Rhett Butler’s People, an authorized sequel to Gone with the Wind. He lives on a sheep farm in the mountains near Williamsville, Virginia, where he writes fiction, essays, and poetry, and trains and trials sheep dogs.

To purchase tickets for this Lecture, please follow the Event URL below. (added from Simon & Schuster)… (more)

Donald McCaig discusses Rhett Butler's People.

Sunday With Friends returns on Sunday, March 16, with a visit from Donald McCaig. Mr. McCaig added a new chapter to the saga of Rhett Butler and Scarlett O'Hara with his 2007 novel Rhett Butler's People. Sequels to Gone With The Wind, both authorized and unauthorized, have appeared for a dozen years, but this time the estate of Margaret Mitchell decided to take a proactive role in finding a suitable author. Virginia native McCaig was chosen on the basis of his Civil War novel Jacob's Ladder.

Sunday With Friends featuring Donald McCaig will take place in the Meeting Room at the Main Library in Abingdon, beginning at 3 PM. The event is free and open to the public. Call 676-6222 for more information. (tcgardner)… (more)