The pampered daughter of a wealthy Georgian plantation owner of Irish descent,sixteen-year-old Scarlett O'Hara soon realizes that young men can't resist hercharms, despite her forthright manners and her refusal to embrace her mother'sladylike ways. Her romantic intrigues lead her to an early marriage, but when thewar between the Union and the Southern States breaks out and she is left a youngwidow, Scarlett's life is turned upside down, and she finds herself embroiled,together with the world surrounding her, in a long struggle for survival.Both a coming-of-age tale and a historical epic, Gone with the Wind is regarded asone of the great American novels, and is perhaps one of the most popular stories inthe Western canon. Famously inspiring the iconic 1939 Oscar-winning film starringVivien Leigh as Scarlett and Clark Gable as the rakish but cynical Rhett Butler, it isMargaret Mitchell's only published novel, and a living testament to the irrepressibleresilience of the American spirit.