About the Book
The official cover art for Varina: A Novel.
Sooner or later, history asks, which side were you on? In his powerful novel, Charles Frazier returns to the time and place of Cold Mountain, vividly bringing to life the chaos and devastation of the Civil War.
Her marriage prospects limited, teenage Varina Howell agrees to wed the much-older widower Jefferson Davis, with whom she expects the secure life of a Mississippi landowner. Davis instead pursues a career in politics and is eventually appointed president of the Confederacy, placing Varina at the white-hot center of one of the darkest moments in American history—culpable regardless of her intentions.
The Confederacy falling, her marriage in tatters, and the country divided, Varina and her children escape Richmond and travel south on their own, now fugitives with “bounties on their heads, an entire nation in pursuit.”
Intimate in its detailed observations of one woman’s tragic life and epic in its scope and power, Varina is a novel of an American war and its aftermath. Ultimately, the book is a portrait of a woman who comes to realize that complicity carries consequences.
Author Information
Charles Frazier is an acclaimed American novelist, best known for his debut novel Cold Mountain, which won the National Book Award in 1997. His works often explore historical themes, particularly those related to the American Civil War and its aftermath, with a focus on rich character development and evocative prose.
Book Details
| Publisher: | Ecco |
| Publication Date: | April 3, 2018 |
| Edition: | First Edition |
| Language: | English |
| Print Length: | 368 pages |
| ISBN-10: | 0062405985 |
| Item Weight: | 1.2 pounds |
| Dimensions: | 1.6 x 5.9 x 9.1 inches |
Critical Reception
Quote from USA Today praising Charles Frazier's writing.
Quote from TIME highlighting Frazier's historical command and narrative skill.
Quote from New York Review of Books describing the book as reverential and beautifully composed.
Selected Reviews:
"Varina's Life as a Metaphor for an Age" - This was a terrific read! Frazier takes us through the passages of Varina's life as a mirror to the life of the South during her years from youth to old age. Frazier's depiction of the antebellum South... precisely defines what southerners meant by the term "the peculiar institution."
— Thomas A. Donahue, 5-star review
"A previously unknown person of note in the American Civil War" - Varina is a novel based on the experience of Jefferson Davis’s wife at the end of the American Civil War. The plot has two strands - the attempt by Jimmy Limber, a middle aged black man living in the north to trace his early history as an equal member of the Davis household and the flight of Varina... This is an excellent historical novel.
— Gail, 4-star review
Related Titles
Readers who enjoyed Varina: A Novel may also be interested in these related works:
- Thirteen Moons: A Novel by Charles Frazier
- The Trackers: A Novel by Charles Frazier
- First Lady of the Confederacy: Varina Davis’s Civil War
- Cold Mountain: 20th Anniversary Edition by Charles Frazier
