Gone with the Wind Sat Under a Sofa in Atlanta

The apartment house where Margaret Mitchell stored her manuscript under the sofa courtesy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gone_with_the_Wind#Reception. 

It sat under her sofa to replace a broken leg for years.  No one knew about it until the owner's friend scoffed at her that she had written a book.  "You, write a book?"  It was all the impetus the writer needed.  A man came through town looking for manuscripts to publish and she presented him with hers.  The man took it with him to read on the train to New Orleans.  At his next stop, he sent the 1000-page manuscript to New York City to be considered for publication.  Margaret Mitchell was promptly offered a contract for Gone with the Wind (http://alinefromlinda.blogspot.ca/2014/07/july-23.html).

Even after it was published, Mitchell's book had its fair share of detractors.  New York Times critic Ralph Thompson complained that it had an "absurd plot", that it was written from "no particular point of view" and that it should be cut down to 500 pages.  Other critics pointed to the book's portrayal of blacks "as creatures of small intelligence".  Think of the wide-eyed maid Mammy who seems to scream an awful lot in the movie (http://mentalfloss.com/article/30591/10-fascinating-facts-about-gone-wind).

Another obstacle facing Mitchell was the Great Depression.  The author was worried that the book's $3.00 price tag would discourage the average American from buying it.

Despite the apparent obstacles it faced, Gone with the Wind was an immediate success.  Within the first six months, the book had sold 1 million copies.  In 1937, the manuscript that collected dust under Mitchell's couch for years, earned her the Pulitzer Prize.

Gone with the Wind, still in print after 80 years, has been translated into 30 languages courtesy https://www.pinterest.com/pin/273171533618183061/.

Will the Real Rhett & Scarlett Please Stand Up?

Scarlett:  "Sir, you are no gentleman."

Rhett:  "And you, Miss, are no lady."

http://thepassingtramp.blogspot.ca/2014/12/crime-raves-u-s-mystery-bestsellers.html

Anyone who has seen Gone with the Wind cannot get the iconic images out of their head:  society women in hoop skirts fluttering across the ballroom floor, a pair of horses bolting as Atlanta burns, Scarlett's plump, kerchief-wearing maid tying her corset so tight she can't breath, a pencil-moustachioed Rhett going off to join the Confederate Army, stating:  "Frankly, Scarlett, I don't give a damn."  

Truth is stranger than fiction.  There really was a "Rhett"; there really was a "Scarlett".  Rhett Turnipseed fell in love with Emelyn Louise Hannon duinrg the Civil War era.  Rhett abandonned Emelyn to run off and join the Confederate Army.

After the Civil War, Rhett became a gambler and a drifter.  On Easter morning in 1871, he attended a Methodist Revival meeting where he gave his life to Christ.  He attended Vanderbilt University where he studied to become a Methodist preacher.  

A young woman in his flock ran away to St. Louis to work as a prostitute.  Rhett followed her there to beg her to return home.  The madam running the brothel was his former love, Emelyn Louise Hannon.  Emelyn refused to give up the young lady to Rhett.  Rhett in turn challenged Emelyn to a card game:  if she won, the girl stayed; if he won, the girl went home with him.  

Rhett was victorious and the girl returned to her family in St. Louis.  She later married and raised a family, and became a proud matriarch.  Emelyn was so impressed with Rhett's change of character that she converted to Methodism and opened an orphanage for Cherokee children.  It turned out that Rhett really did give a damn.