Varina

Frazier brought life to an often ignored and overshadowed civil war wife, Varina Anne Banks Howell Davis

Varina was the only First Lady of the Confederate States of America and before reading Varina by Charles Frazier I had never considered her. I knew she existed, yet I did not know her name or anything about her. So overshadowed by the legacy of her husband and the civil war, she seemed like a background character or an extra in a movie. Not until reading Frazier's fictional depiction of Varina did I really begin to contemplate who she might have been and the life she lived. 

Varina has little control over her life and her choices and the life she ends up living is not the one she imagined for herself. Varina's story begins years after the civil war. She tells what she remembers to a visitor who is trying to make sense of his own memories. It is the story of the devastation that follows the civil war and Varina's coming to terms with her complicity in the war. Although she wanted no part in war or politics, she learns that her complicity carries consequences that she must deal with.

A great read for fans of historical fiction, civil war, and Charles Frazier.