FAIRHOPE, Ala. - Perhaps a certain notorious Southern gentleman might give a damn after all. Rhett Butler from Margaret Mitchell’s Gone with the Wind is the focus of a weekend event in Fairhope.

Donald McCaig will read from and sign his new book, Rhett Butler’s People, on Sunday, Nov. 18, from 2-4 p.m., at Page & Palette, 32 S. Section St. in Fairhope. Authorized by Mitchell’s estate, the author dares answer the question of what Butler was thinking before, during and after the beloved story, that was made into an epic 1939 motion picture starring Clark Gable and Vivian Leigh.

An earlier authorized follow-up novel, Scarlett by Alexandra Ripley (1991), and the resulting television miniseries were somewhat financially successful, but were both ultimately panned by GWTW fans and critics alike. So, how was McCaig chosen to take another stab at the legendary tale?

“It was a fluke,” McCaig said during a phone interview from Louisville, Kent. earlier this week. “They had decided to do a second sequel probably because Scarlett was so disappointing.”

He said the two executors of the estate spent six years searching for a writer who would finally do Mitchell’s characters justice. He landed the job in part because a People magazine review of his earlier work, Jacob’s Ladder, compared it to GWTW. The book was also designated “the best Civil War novel ever written” by The Virginia Quarterly. It won the Michael Shaara Award for Civil War Fiction and the Library of Virginia Award for Fiction.

McCaig said, “They (the executors) saw romance writers, but they weren’t sure if that’s the way they wanted to go.” He noted he had never read Mitchell’s book before, but while in Canada, he “sat on a front porch with a cup of coffee and read it.”

The bulk of the GWTW narrative is centered around the Civil War, while Rhett Butler’s People begins before the classic novel and ends around a year after its climax.

“Scarlett O’Hara is a wonderful character — perhaps the greatest in modern literature — but Rhett Butler is kind of invisible,” he added. “You know little about him. You know about his bad reputation. But you know the first thing as Southerners we ask is, ‘what about your people?’”

McCaig’s book explores Butler’s family and further develops his character, as well as those of others in Mitchell’s work. New characters are introduced, including Butler’s sister, Rosemary, so the storyline has a different emphasis, he said.

McCaig pointed out his book is based solely on the earlier work and not at all on the David O. Selznik production.

“My Rhett is pretty much the Rhett of the book,” he said. “What made him Rhett, a pretty extraordinary character … I respected the character. I didn’t argue with it. I took secondary characters and gave them different interpretations.”

Among those is Melanie Wilkes, who seems clueless about the love Scarlett shares with her troubled husband, Ashley. McCaig said, “I’ve never met a woman who wouldn’t know it in 15 seconds. Scarlett suspected Melanie might know, but in Rhett Butler’s People, she does know.”

The executors of Mitchell’s estate are happy with the way things turned out this time around.

“They’re pleased. They’re feeling real good about it right now,” McCaig said. “They wanted a quality literary work. They are a real class act. Rhett Butler’s People is dedicated to one of them.”

The rural Virginia resident said he actually wrote the book, however, to satisfy three primary audiences: those who love Gone with the Wind, and read it every year; the men and women who love historical fiction; and anyone who has seen the movie, even though it is different than the book.

McCaig acknowledges some will question the wisdom of another author tinkering with Mitchell’s original story.

“Any normal person would be skeptical,” he said. “But, it’s the right of new generations to retell old, familiar stories. In another 50 years, I imagine someone else will probably take a crack at it.”

McCaig’s appearance was originally planned as an evening fund-raiser for Wilmer Hall that was to be held at the Grand Hotel Marriott Resort, Golf Club & Spa. A Page & Palette spokesperson said the event was cancelled due to lackluster ticket sales.

For more information, call Page & Palette at 928-5295, or visit online at www.pageandpalette.com.