Until 1995, Gone with the Wind--the 1937 Pulitzer Prize winner and perhaps the bestselling novel of all time--was the only published work of fiction credited to Margaret Mitchell. But 45 years after her death, the Road to Tara Museum unveiled what amounts to a national treasure--a novella written by America's most beloved storyteller. Lost Laysen is an exciting tale of love and honor on a South Pacific island. A rough-edged Irish boatsman is smitten with the feisty and independent Courtenay Ross. "Charley boy, I sure did love that little woman, I couldn't help it, tho I knew I never had a chance--she wasn't my kind. I wonder why it's always the little women that appeal to us big fellows?" Courtenay is engaged to a dapper young American who loves her so much, he follows her to the remote island of Laysen to persuade her to come home. What's so remarkable about this story is that Mitchell was just 16 when she put pen to paper and wrote the entire piece in less than a month's time.

Henry Love Angel, a close friend and likely admirer, was the recipient of the two notebooks in which the manuscript for Lost Laysen was written. It was Angel's grandson who discovered the amazing treasure that had been passed down to him--a box of photographs, negatives, correspondence from Mitchell to Angel, and the manuscript. "My dear--" begins one letter. "I was so proud of you, last time I saw you--proud of your love, your courage and resignation and most of all your self confidence. Don't let it drop my dear. I have prayed so hard that you would have it because without it you can never amount to much. With it and work, the world lies ahead. If ever you begin to get discouraged and lose confidence in your self--draw on my supply for I believe in you. Just set your mark and go to it." The never-before-seen photographs show Mitchell and a variety of friends goofing for the camera. This book provides charming insight into a brief period of Mitchell's life--one full of youthful folly, exuberance, and obvious joy.

From Library Journal
This recently discovered tale of love in the South Pacific, published to coincide with the 60th anniversary of Gone with the Wind, was written when Mitchell was 16.Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

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 historian Debra 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.

FROM THE CRITICS

Library Journal