Varina — Charles Frazier

Inspired by the audacious and adventure-filled life of Varina Howell Davis, the second wife of President Jefferson Davis, VARINA is the forcefully rendered, captivating fourth novel from Charles Frazier, returning to the time and place of his momentous first novel.

Moving backward and forward in time, VARINA captures this crucial period in history, the moment when Varina and her children escaped from Richmond and traveled south as rootless fugitives “with bounties on their heads, an entire nation in pursuit,” navigating a marriage in tatters and a country divided and on its knees. “Being on the wrong side of history carries consequences,” Frazier reflects as he brings vibrantly to life the chaos and devastation of the Civil War and its fallout.

Lushly atmospheric and animated by a complex, completely believable set of characters, VARINA is both intimate in its detailed observations of one woman's life and epic in its scope and power, representing the work of an American master at his most entertaining, illuminating, and affecting.