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Book Cover for: Lost Laysen, Margaret Mitchell

Lost Laysen

Margaret Mitchell

The world saw only one book by Margaret Mitchell published in her lifetime, the incomparable Gone With the Wind, the most popular novel in American history. Upon her death in 1949, her personal papers, almost all other writing, and even the original typescript of Gone With the Wind were destroyed. Now, sixty years later, the impossible has happened: The world has another story from Margaret Mitchell. Better still, it's a delight, a fitting predecessor to America's most beloved epic novel. A spirited tale of love and honor on a doomed South Pacific island called Laysen, Lost Laysen would be justly praised as a charming effort by a remarkable young talent if it were its author's only work. But it isn't, of course, and Lost Laysen also enchants because of the many fascinating ways it foretells Gone With the Wind: in its two central male characters, one a gentleman and the other more rough-hewn, who vie for the attention of a feisty, independent-minded woman, and who will go to any lengths to defend her honor; in its re-creation of a vanished world; and in its unforgettable ending. The real-life romance at the heart of Lost Laysen's discovery is as enthralling as any work of fiction. Margaret Mitchell gave the story, handwritten in two lined notebooks, to a young suitor, Henry Love Angel. Angel put the notebooks away for safekeeping, just as he put away all of Mitchell's intimate letters to him, as well as their treasured photographs taken over the years. Well over half a century passed before Henry Love Angel's son, realizing what had been passed down to him, brought the story, the letters, and the photos to Atlanta's Road to Tara Museum. Nationally respected Margaret Mitchell historianDebra Freer masterfully weaves Margaret Mitchell's never-before-seen letters and photographs into a fascinating introduction that tells the story of Mitchell's relationship with Henry Love Angel and puts the writing of Lost Laysen into its proper context.

Book Details

  • Publisher: Scribner Book Company
  • Publish Date: May 6th, 1997
  • Pages: 128
  • Language: English
  • Edition: undefined - undefined
  • Dimensions: 9.25in - 5.50in - 0.36in - 0.43lb
  • EAN: 9780684837680
  • Categories: Historical - GeneralLiterarySagas

About the Author

Mitchell, Margaret: - Born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia, Margaret Mitchell (1900-1949) was an American author and journalist. As a former newspaper reporter, she began Gone with the Wind in 1926. Only two people--the author and her husband--saw the manuscript before it reached the publisher. Gone with the Wind was awarded the National Book Award in 1936 and the Pulitzer Prize in 1937, and is one of the most bestselling novels of all time.