Randall's book may not be published in the UK

But Randall's version has already gone into some stores' best-seller lists - despite not being officially released until 28 June.

Randall said she was "really, really moved" to see the books on shelves in her home town of Nashville, Tennessee.

"This is definitely a momentous occasion in my life, and my family's. I hoped this day would eventually come."

More than half the stock of 60 copies was sold within two hours at Nashville's Davis-Kidd bookshop.

"It's a victory for her, but it's also a victory for every writer and reader that this book has been published," manager Tony Mize said.

"I knew the right of free speech would prevail."

Randall's book is a 'tough act to follow'

The Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta ruled that a ban on The Wind Done Gone amounted to a violation of the US constitution's right of free speech.

Randall's story is narrated by a mixed-race plantation owner's daughter who is Gone With The Wind heroine Scarlett O'Hara's half-sister.

The author said her work was designed to ridicule a book that portrayed black slaves as happy and supportive of white masters in the racist Confederate South.

But Mitchell's estate argued that the use of the same settings and characters amounted to a breach of the original work's copyright.

One Atlanta bookshop manager said the novel had already gone into its weekly top 25 best-seller list.

"People are coming here and talking about the book," said Lance Milton, manager of Waldenbooks at the city's CNN Center.

Fuss

"A young man said he bought it to express his dislike for Gone With the Wind."

Another purchaser, Ted Phoenix, 46, said he spent $22 (�16) on the book to see what all the fuss is about.

"I just finished Gone With the Wind," he said. "It's a tough act to follow."

Publisher Houghton Mifflin has printed 113,000 copies.

A spokesperson for Houghton Mifflin in the UK said it would be at least several months before the book is released in Britain, if at all.