Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Ruth's Journey: The Authorized Novel of Mammy from Margaret Mitchell's Gone with the Wind
    Ruth's Journey: The Authorized Novel of Mammy from Margaret Mitchell's Gone with the Wind
    Ruth's Journey: The Authorized Novel of Mammy from Margaret Mitchell's Gone with the Wind
    Audiobook13 hours

    Ruth's Journey: The Authorized Novel of Mammy from Margaret Mitchell's Gone with the Wind

    Written by Donald McCaig

    Narrated by Cherise Boothe

    3.5/5

    ()

    Switch to ebook

    About this audiobook

    “Exquisitely imagined, deeply researched . . . brings to the foreground the most enigmatic and fascinating figure in Gone with the Wind. This is a brave work of literary empathy by a writer at the height of his powers, who demonstrates a magisterial understanding of the period, its clashing cultures, and its heartbreaking crises. ” —Geraldine Brooks, author of March

    The only authorized prequel to Margaret Mitchell’s Gone with the Wind—the unforgettable story of Mammy. On a Caribbean island consumed by the flames of revolution, an infant girl falls under the care of two French émigrés, Henri and Solange Fournier, who take the beautiful child they call Ruth to the bustling American city of Savannah.

    What follows is the sweeping tale of Ruth’s life as shaped first by her strong-willed mistress, and then by Solange’s daughter Ellen and Gerald O’Hara, the rough Irishman Ellen chooses to marry; the Butler family of Charleston and their unexpected connection to Mammy Ruth; and finally Scarlett O’Hara—the irrepressible Southern belle Mammy raises from birth. As we witness the lives of three generations of women, gifted storyteller Donald McCaig reveals a nuanced portrait of Mammy, at once a proud woman and a captive, a strict disciplinarian who has never experienced freedom herself. Through it all, Mammy endures, a rock in the river of time.

    Set against the backdrop of the South from the 1820s until the dawn of the Civil War, here is a remarkable story of fortitude, heartbreak, and indomitable will—and a tale that will forever illuminate your reading of Margaret Mitchell’s Gone with the Wind.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherSimon & Schuster Audio
    Release dateOct 14, 2014
    ISBN9781442374478
    Author

    Donald McCaig

    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.

    More audiobooks from Donald Mc Caig

    Related to Ruth's Journey

    Related audiobooks

    Contemporary Women's For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Sad Farewell

      Jul 2, 2021

      FOR readers there’s a real poignancy to seeing The Missing Sister by Lucinda Riley at the top of the SA fiction bestseller list because it’s the last book that will be released by the much-loved Northern Irish author. Riley’s family recently announce

      1 min read

    • Article

      The Boy Who Drew Auschwitz

      Jan 27, 2021

      The Boy Who Drew Auschwitz
      4 min read

    • Article

      March Fiction

      Feb 15, 2022

      Run Rose Run by Dolly Parton and James Patterson (Century, £20) In 2018 the ever-prolific James Patterson got together with Bill Clinton to write the best-selling The President Is Missing: a novel that combined Clinton’s insider knowledge with Patter

      2 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Ruth's Journey

    3.5/5

    65 ratings11 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 1/5
      This in no way compares to GWTW, doesn’t cover Tara during the war, and this character isn’t epic enough for Mammy!
    • 3/5
      I really struggled to get through this book and I kept thinking about how it was such a shame that a woman with such a fascinating life (just read the back of the cover) had a story that read so blandly and allowed other characters to take center stage. It was only in the last quarter of the book that I felt Mammy Ruth was truly at the center of her own story. For so much of this book, I felt as through I was learning about Solange and her marriages, the O'Hara brothers, and even the Butlers in Charleston. Mammy took a backseat to many of these figures, but I was glad that she was finally narrating her own story by the end of the book.
    • 2/5
      Gone With The Wind is undoubtedly my all-time favorite movie. I can watch it over and over and over. It’s not surprising that there have been sequel’s and prequel’s (Scarlett by Alexandrea Ripley—a hideous novel—and Rhett Butler’s People by Donald McCaig that I haven’t read). I admit that I was excited when I saw heard about another prequel, this time from Mammy’s point of view. What a great character she is. Margaret Mitchell not only created a formidable personality, Hattie McDaniel brought her to life. McDaniel deserved the Oscar she was awarded.I haven’t read all of McCaig’s works, but I have read, and thoroughly enjoyed, his Nop’sTrials and Nop’s Hope. Both are excellent stories. Between a novel about Mammy and a writer with whom I’m familiar, no one had to twist my arm to pay hardcover price for what I was positive would be a wonderful reading experience.Alas, I was wrong; it’s a tedious read. The story has begins when Mammy becomes a refugee from a slave revolt in Haiti. Her mistress gave her the name of Ruth. I know that McCaig had to create a backstory that wouldn’t be stereotypical, but he went too far. It’s as bad as Ripley sending Scarlett to Ireland for most of Scarlett,Most of the book is about Solange, Scarlett O’Hara’s grandmother, and Ellen, Scarlett’s mother. Only the confidence that the story would turn around and focus more on Ruth/Mammy kept me reading. I found the first two-thirds of the novel seemed to center on Solange, with Mammy as a supporting character. The first half of the last two-thirds of the novel focused on Ellen, and then finally, we reach Mammy/Ruth’s story. Maybe I need to keep I mind that the title is Ruth’s Journey, not Ruth’s story. When the action finally does center on Mammy/Ruth, it seems more like rewriting of Mitchell’s work.I give Ruth’s Journey: The Authorized Novel of Mammy From Margaret Mitchell’s Gone With The Wind 2 out of five stars
    • 4/5
      Ever wonder about Mammy in "Gone with the Wind" before she became Mammy to Katie Scarlett and her siblings? Here is her story. It could be considered a prequel to "Gone with the Wind" because it deals with Ruth and also her earlier dealings with Scarlett, including quite a bit about, the character, Scarlett. Though, not a literary masterpiece, this book delivers an interesting conjecture for any fans of Margaret Mitchell's beloved story.

      I received my copy from netgalley.com
    • 5/5
      "Gone With the Wind" is such a classic that you don't even need to see the movie or read the book to know that it exists as part of our cultural heritage. Unfortunately I had the opportunity to read the book while it was in my possession (I have never seen the movie) but I allowed it to slip out of my grasp, which is a pity. For someone to be able to write this book that is based on one of the largest cultural cornerstones is a challenge and one well met in my opinion. Even though I can't base my review on the earlier work anyone who is into historical fiction will find this a page-turner that will capture the imagination. The author took a follow-up it seems of "Forrest Gump" by using a person whose life narrates the biggest changes of history in several decades while still relating how they touched the lives of those around them while still remaining basically in the background. The book shows the changes on the people around Mammy Ruth as well. This is one book that I will be keeping while trying to find the original to read now. And I hope the estate of Ms. Mitchell has been pleased with this new addition. **Received this book as part of the First Reads at Goodreads.com for free in exchange for a review**
    • 5/5
      A wonderful insight into the whys of Mammy's life. Another tremendous book by Donald McCaig.
    • 2/5
      I have a strange relationship with Gone With the Wind.

      There was a time in my life, many years ago, when I didn't particularly liked nor dislike the movie. I had seen it, it didn't do much for me one way or the other, and basically forgot about it beyond recognizing the references in popular culture. I hadn't read the book on which it was based.

      But then I married a person who had (and has) a Gone With the Wind obsession. She has seen the movie dozens if not hundreds of times since childhood, collects any and all sorts of memorabilia, read the original book several times, even going to Gone With the Wind cons and events to meet the still-alive-then actors connected with the production. I have been forced to view this movie many many, many times myself.

      That's a long way into my review to say I have a complicated relationship with the work on which this book's characters and universe are based.

      I didn't think I would like this at all. It's not my normal type of fiction read, and as I say, I have GWTW issues. I honestly only read it at all because the publisher was kind enough to send me a copy in exchange for a possible review, and I felt an obligation. At that, I picked up other books and completed them several times after this book arrived in the mail, each time reminding myself that I really needed to just read it.

      The writing is much better than I expected. McCraig is obviously talented, and his strong familiarity with the original work, and his ability to weave this longer tale of Mammy Ruth into it is impressive. The actual history referenced seems well-researched, if often a little too much a recitation of historical touchstones.

      McCraig's Mammy is an extremely intelligent, morally centered, and wise woman. One of the problems with this book is that she is just too much so - there is not nearly enough flaw and realistic reaction to suffering to really make Mammy Ruth come alive as an actual person for me.

      Then there is the dialect issue. The last hundred pages or so of the book are written in first person from Mammy's point of view, and is written in dialect. I have no earthly idea how accurate this dialect presentation is. For all I know, McCraig has done extensive research in how someone from Mammy Ruth's background may have actually spoken during this time period, and it's entirely possible, from my almost completely ignorant standing, that he nailed it.

      But it felt weird. Despite having no basis other than just my general feeling as I read, this often felt like some old white dude writer trying his damnest to sound like an 1965 South Carolina Mammy, and if very often pulled me right out of the story (I deliberately didn't look up McCraig's bio before this review to confirm or refute his white-dude-ness). Much of Mammy's vocabulary is crude and limited - right along side internal dialog that referenced large words and complicated phrase structure. It just felt... off.

      I did like it more than I thought I would. And I know what my ex-wife is getting for Christmas from this year.

    • 3/5
      Historical details and GWTW details made this an interesting read, perhaps better that Rhett Butler's People, but still not a really substantial sequel to Gone With the Wind.
    • 3/5
      We don't know—none of us knows— what sorrows gonna trample us. But we ain't put down on this earth to buck and jibe.I am a huge fan of Gone With the Wind but I've always been wary about reading any other books that were sequels to it or based upon its characters. When I first heard about this book I decided to actually try reading those books I had been so wary to read to prepare myself for this book. I liked McCaig's previous book, Rhett Butler's People, so I had high hopes for this book. Unfortunately I don't feel that this book stayed true to all of Mitchell's characters and at times spent too much time from the point-of-view of other characters besides Mammy (Ruth).Mammy is such a force in Scarlett and other characters' lives that it was nice to read an interpretation of what her past would have been like. The book starts off from the point-of-view of Solange, Scarlett's grandmother, and i felt like we spent too much time in her point-of-view. I know that Ruth was little in the beginning but the book really started to feel like just a backstory of Solange.While reading certain parts of this book it became a bit hard to see how this Ruth would grow to be the person she became. She may have loved Jehu but I never felt like he was all that in love with her. I really liked McCaig's telling of Ellen's childhood and everything she went through with Phillipe. Those were the parts that were the most fascinating. I was baffled by how McCaig portrayed Scarlett in this book. I didn't like the whole switch from Katie to Scarlett and I didn't find it believable that this interpretation of Scarlett would have grown into the girl/woman she was in Gone With the Wind.Overall there was nothing that really struck me about this book. I feel like I would have liked this a lot more if more of it had been from Ruth's point-of-view. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the galley.
    • 2/5
      Gone with the Wind was the first adult book that I read when I was young and it remains one of the few books that I re- read every few years. I was excited to find out about this book and the potential opportunity to learn more about Mammy, one of the key characters in GWTW. Wow was I disappointed. I thought that this book was poorly written and the characters were very one dimensional. I don't know much more about Mammy now than I did before except that her real name was Ruth. I truly think that authors should quit trying to add on to earlier novels - they should just leave those characters alone. Major disappointment!
    • 3/5
      RUTH'S JOURNEY: THE STORY OF MAMMY FROM GONE WITH THE WIND by Donald McCaigThough the book is related by Ruth (Mammy), the story is really Solange and Miss Ellen’s story. You might ask “Who is Solange?” Solange is Scarlett’s grandmother, but you won’t find her in Gone with the Wind. Solange is a French heiress who is married off to a second son with prospects in sugar. She arrives in Haiti to find the sugar plantation in disarray and the second son a poor manager. Ruth is an orphan that Solange appropriates for herself. When the Haitian slave revolt becomes a dangerous reality, Solange, her husband and Ruth decamp to Charleston, South Carolina. Here Ruth finds love and marriage in Jehu, a free black. Unfortunately Jehu finds Pastor Vesey and his church of slaves. When Vesey’s plot to overthrow and murder white slave holders is discovered, Ruth’s family is shattered and the story changes location to Savannah. Here Solange marries for a third time and gives birth to Ellen, Scarlett’s mother. The last quarter of the book covers Miss Ellen and Gerald O”Hara’s marriage and life at Tara. The book ends with the outbreak of the Civil War.The book is well written and follows a pre-ordained curve to introduce us to Scarlett and attempt to give us a back story for why Scarlett is who she is. Actual events and people give a feeling of reality to the novel that is a bit too long. Too much of the book deals with Solange and her amorous adventures. If you are looking for a novel of pre-Civil War manners, you will be happy. If you really want to know Ruth and a slave’s life, this is not the book for you. 3 of 5 stars