I'm not overly enthused with this story, but for me Cold Mountain is unbeatable. I've tried all Frasier's books, he is most definitely of the Southern attitude, who better to tell these stories? Normally I do not read stories of the South.

Slow and boring. Varina remains more or less a mystery to the reader.

If she had not been married to Jefferson Davis, history would not remember Varina Davis. She lived a privileged life in Richmond, sheltered from most of the ravages and savagery of the war. The novel commits the unpardonable sin of being boring, with most of the narrative told as "backstory" rather than unfolding in the present tense.

A New & Noteworthy Best of 2018 pick. The story of the Civil War told by Varina Davis, the first lady of the Confederacy. Varina is strong and fascinating and brings alive the chaos and devastation of the Civil War.

Frazer, who so captivated his readers in "Cold Mountain," is completely back on form. He invites us across a panoply of historical landscapes from ante-bellum plantations on the Mississippi river to Saratoga Springs and Paris, navigates the heights of Washington society, the collapse of the Confederacy and the sad ruins of the ravaged South. As always, his language is poetic and even musical, and his exploration of the title character - in all her painful negotiations of marriage and family, gender and race - is masterful.

Varina recounts the story of Varina Davis, the First Lady of the Confederacy, from an uncertain childhood that resulted in an arranged marriage, to fleeing for her life after the Confederacy is left in ruins during the Civil War.

I enjoyed this book but did find it disjointed at times. She was a women of seemingly strong character who was well educated and often seemed an odd fit w/ her husband Jefferson Davis. Given the time she lived it is difficult to judge her too harshly. In death it seems she rejoined her sometimes estranged family and the Confederacy.

A great literary historical novel with a refreshingly bright, self-reliant protagonist who nonetheless gets swept up in the fight for the Confederacy and only too late realizes the full horror of the cause.

Reads more like creative non fiction than a novel. I finished it because I knew very little about this woman but it was slow going. Doesn’t come close to come close to Cold Mountain.

This was a beautifully written, interesting historical novel about Jefferson Davis' wife , Varina. It also touches on the devastation in the south from the civil war and it's affect on the lives of soldiers, society, civilians and the slavery issue. The narrative is a little difficult at times but it is worth it.