Varina - Charles Frazier

This was a delightful read by the author of Cold Mountain.  The writing is lyrical and the images he creates swim in your head while you follow the story.  Varina was the wife of Jefferson Davis, president of the Confederacy.  A complex woman living a life she did not chose.  I was struck by the fact that she died in her 80's in 1906.  It put the impact and immediacy of the Civil War into perspective for me when I think of family alive at that time.

A favorite quote:

[Varina reflecting on a group of sisters defending their home in the South]  "Their yearning she recognized fully from that age, the need to become something at least within the vicinity of your dream of yourself.  She shaped a ragged philosophy to tide them through lonesome nights.  It was simple, and not one she'd ever found the strength to follow.  The idea was, the you you are with others is not you.  To be lonesome is to be who you most fully are."

Published: 2018 Read: February 2020 Genre: Historical Fiction