Gone With the Wind was the only novel Margaret Mitchell ever wrote. She started it when she was 26, and finished it 10 years later. It was instantly popular upon being published, and remains that way today, one of the best-selling novels of all time. I read the novel in high school, before I had ever seen the movie. For the length of the book, it is a surprisingly quick and easy read. The strength of the novel is definitely the characters, who are all developed in quite a bit of depth, and especially Scarlett. After a while, you begin almost thinking like her, and definitely rooting for her despite her faults. The major criticism of the book over the years has been the racism that runs through it. Most people, however, will argue that at the time Mitchell was writing it, the South was still segregated, and views such as those she expresses in the novel were commonplace. Regardless, you definitely shouldn't let that affect your enjoyment of this brilliant story.