Gone with the Wind

By: Margaret Mitchell

Narrated by: Linda Stephens

Length: 49 hrs and 2 mins

Publisher's summary

Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Literature, Margaret Mitchell's great novel of the South is one of the most popular books ever written. Within six months of its publication in 1936, Gone With the Wind had sold a million copies. To date, it has been translated into 25 languages, and more than 28 million copies have been sold.

Here are the characters that have become symbols of passion and desire: darkly handsome Rhett Butler and flirtatious Scarlett O'Hara. Behind them stand their gentler counterparts: Ashley Wilkes and Melanie Hamilton. As the lives and affairs of these absorbing characters play out against the tumult of the Civil War, Gone With the Wind reaches dramatic heights that have swept generations of fans off their feet.

Having lived in Atlanta for many years, narrator Linda Stephens has an authentic ear for the dialects of that region. Get ready to hear Gone With the Wind exactly as it was written: every word beautifully captured in a spectacular unabridged audio production.

©1964 Stephens Mitchell (P)2001 Recorded Books, LLC

Critic reviews

"Beyond a doubt one of the most remarkable first novels produced by an American writer. It is also one of the best." ( The New York Times)
"The best novel to have ever come out of the South...it is unsurpassed in the whole of American writing." ( The Washington Post)

wow ok i see why it was and still is a best seller

sometimes a little drawn out but always character building and scene setting the reader was well chosen and kept a good flow i loved it and couldnt stop listening loved and hated the ending left me flabergsted for days.

2nd Time Around

Gone With the Wind was the first book I read all the way through in high school 50 plus years ago. I couldn't put it down. When this book was chosen for my book club selection next month, I had mixed emotions because it was so long........now that I am finished with it,I wish it could have gone on and on. The reading was fabulous and the hours passes quickly. A friend said she skipped over all the verbiage as she read it again, but I am grateful I had listened to it as it put me right into the scenes.
I viewed the book completely different this time than when I was a teenager. Living and teaching high school in SC makes me understand the culture so much more. A real awakening. Thank you Audible!

Incredible!

To think that some speak of cancelling this masterpiece! I had never read the book or even watched more than a brief scene or two from the movie, so I was not prepared for how truly great this book is. Apart from the human drama, the romance and the tragedy of the fictional tale she created, Margaret Mitchell gives an in-depth account of an important period of American history, primarily from the point of view of the Georgians who lived through it, and the contrast with with simplistic caricatures of the time that we so often encounter today is stark. It seems that she writes with deep love for her native city and state, and maybe there are things that she idealizes, but for the most part her descriptions ring true, and she honestly presents many examples of foolish, wrong thinking, of blindness, of human sinfulness, even on the part of those for whom she feels such sympathy. Whether she is writing of slaves and owners, former slaves and former owners, or poor whites who had nothing to do with slavery, she portrays both the noble and the shameful, the gentle and the cruel, the loyal and the treacherous, the generous and the greedy. She obviously researched the period extensively, explaining not only the historical events but how the people at the time felt about them.
Just as impressive as the book itself is the narration by Linda Stephens. She is unbelievably talented. Her pacing is impeccable and the emotion in her voice is always pitch perfect; she makes it easy, just by her voice and accent, to distinguish one character from another, and to know the social class and geographic origin of the speaker. Just fantastic. I would give her 10 stars if I could.

Add Another Five Stars

I thought the movie was good but the book is better. I don't know how I can say that about a story that's longer than "War and Peace". But the time is used for masterful character development and an historical viewpoint that's often lost when one is on the losing side.
Linda Stephens is a superb narrator and doesn't lose her touch anywhere along the route.
I'm glad I listened to other reviewers and downloaded this masterpiece.

This is an Audible must read

the narrator is one of the best readers I have listened to. Her ability to capture the accents, the moods, and personalities of the characters in absolutely amazing. It is an American classic and the story line is captivating.

Better with age, but needed a different reader

I decided I needed to read Gone With the Wind for the first time in over 40 years. I had totally forgotten what a nasty little piece of work Scarlet actually was, but with age has come a huge appreciation for the beautiful spirit of Melanie. That was totally lost on me when I was young. I’m truly glad I read it again. However, I would’ve probably enjoyed it a lot more with the different narrator. I really did not appreciate the long pauses at the end of each sentence as well as often in the middle of sentences. There were also some rather strange inflections at times. It was so annoying to me that I took several weeks to read the book instead of my normal total immersion that would have had it finished in 3-4 days. Reader just felt more suited to read a regular romance than an epic novel like this.

Can't Get Better Than This!

It doesn't matter how many times I've read GWTW I just don't get tired or bored with it.
The audio version is amazing. The reader does such a fab job of it and her accent and different voices are unsurpassed. Since we have always identified Scarlett with Vivian Leigh and Rhett Butler with Clark Gable, the reader does not disappoint us since she nails those voices and accents. Absolutely an amazing reader.

I seem to read the book and then watch the movie. The dialog in the movie follows the book almost verbatim so many times but the book is pretty different from the movie. And the book is pretty darn racy for something written so many years ago! Margaret Mitchell was way ahead of her time writing so openly about issues that still face us today, i.e., sex. She manages to write about sex without being graphic or offensive.

Something that has always bothered me is not about GWTW but about the 'sequel' Scarlett. It is based on the movie and not but book. Although it's good I really would have liked to find out what happened to Scarletts children since they don't exist in the GWTW movie or in the book or movie called Scarlett.

This book is it! Just can't get better than this!

Still wonderful

This book never grows old. It's still relevant today. I will read it again someday

If you loved the movie you will love this also!

What did you love best about Gone with the Wind?

I loved the story completely. The book gave far more details than the movie and i have loved the movie for years. Although i knew what was going to happen and how it was going to end i found myself wishing for a different out come or a sequel! The characters are what i loved the best about this book, the characters are well developed and i found myself thinking about them long after i finished the book.

Which character – as performed by Linda Stephens – was your favorite?

i really enjoyed Rhett Butler, what a guy! I loved his complexity and honesty far beyond his time. What a character, he still seems so real!

Amazing!

What about Linda Stephens’s performance did you like?

As a Southerner, I HATE when people have fake Southern accents. The performer has an authentic accent and did an overall wonderful job reading the book. I could have done without the singing parts, but I guess it is in the book, so you can't not sing it!

Any additional comments?

Worth the purchase! I didn't want it to end!