In the series that takes a look at books, plays and stories and how they work, John Yorke explores Margaret Mitchell’s epic Civil War romance, Gone with the Wind.

It was the bestselling American novel of the 20th century, it has sold 30 million copies and counting, it won the Pulitzer Prize, and the 1939 film of the book remains among the highest grossing of all time.

Gone with the Wind is a coming-of-age story, a love triangle, and an epic wartime romance. And it is a rollicking read, a hugely entertaining book, but one with considerable problems for today’s readers – problems that John Yorke explores and analyses over three episodes.

In this first episode John considers how Margaret Mitchell tells this huge sweeping story and asks what made it such a phenomenal hit.

John is joined by the writer Rachel Joyce who has adapted Gone with the Wind for BBC Radio 4, and Sarah Churchwell, Professor of American Literature at the University of London and the author of The Wrath to Come: Gone with the Wind and the Lies America Tells. Together they explore what makes the book such a captivating read and how it is driven by the central character, Scarlett O’Hara, one of the most compelling and infuriating heroines ever written.

John Yorke has worked in television and radio for 30 years and shares his experience as he unpacks the themes and impact of the books, plays and stories that are being dramatised in BBC Radio 4’s Sunday Drama series. As former Head of Channel Four Drama and Controller of BBC Drama Production he has worked on some of the most popular shows in Britain - from EastEnders to The Archers, Life on Mars to Shameless. As creator of the BBC Writers Academy, he's trained a generation of screenwriters - now with over 70 green lights and thousands of hours of television to their names. He is the author of Into the Woods, the bestselling book on narrative, and he writes, teaches and consults on all forms of narrative - including many podcasts for Radio 4.

Contributors: Sarah Churchwell, Professor of American Literature at the University of London Rachel Joyce, adapter of Gone with the Wind for BBC Radio 4 Readings by Samantha Dakin

Credits: Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell, published by Vintage Books

Produced by Jane Greenwood Executive Producer Sara Davies Sound by Sean Kerwin Researcher Henry Tydeman Production hub coordinator Dawn Williams

A Pier production for BBC Radio 4 and BBC Sounds