This Wind Done Arrived

Proving once again that there's nothing like controversy to sell a book, Alice Randall's The Wind Done Gone hits our fiction list today at lucky #13. When Houghton Mifflin originally announced this revisionist view of Gone with the Wind (it's told from the viewpoint of Mammy's daughter and the slaves at Tara), publication was challenged by the estate of Margaret Mitchell, and an injunction was granted by a federal district court in Atlanta blocking the novel's release. After considerable brouhaha on both sides (including, of course, lots of media attention), that injunction was overturned, and Randall's tome now sits prominently on retailers' bookshelves nationwide. Following a fourth trip back to press before pub date (June 28), Wind has 163,000 copies in print. Media coverage has been extensive, to say the least; highlights include NPR's Fresh Air and Morning Edition, CBS's The Early Show, with print and Web coverage ranging from O (Oprah's mag) to salon.com, from Elle to Essence. Numerous signings and related events are planned for Randall's coast-to-coast tour throughout July. No doubt we haven't heard the last chapter in this saga—as Scarlett observed, "Tomorrow is another day."

With reporting by Dick Donahue.