Fans of Ayn Rand rejoice. The New American Library announced today that Rand's novel Ideal is finally being published in the form in which she intended it.
Rand, who died in 1982, wrote Ideal as a novel in 1934. But she didn't like it and set it aside. Later that year, she reworked it as a play, which The Wall Street Journal notes had its New York premiere in 2010.
The Journal reported that the original version of Ideal was discovered by Richard Ralston, a publishing manager at the Ayn Rand Institute, who was digitizing Rand's archives.
"I've heard wishful comments over many years from readers wondering if there were other novels in Ayn Rand's papers," he told the newspaper.
Ideal is about Kay Gonda, an actress who is suspected of murder. She visits six of her biggest fans, pleading for help.
The New American Library, an imprint of Penguin Random House, was Rand's longtime publisher. It said the novel will be published July 7, 2015.
Rand, the force behind the philosophy of Objectivism, is best-known as the author of the Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged, which have sold tens of millions of copies around the world. Her influence is felt even today, as Andrea Seabrook reported on NPR's Morning Edition in 2011. The ideas behind Rand's work "have sunk so deeply into our political thought, most people don't even recognize them as her ideas anymore," Seabrook reported.
Rand has influential admirers, including Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin and former Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan.
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