Varina

Charles Frazier's newest novel, Varina, came out last year.  Since his book, Cold Mountain, remains one of my favorite novels, I was happy to come across Varina at the library!  


Varina is historical fiction novel, based on the life of Varina Howell.  Varina was born in 1826 in Natchez, Mississippi.  She met Jefferson Davis when she was seventeen.  He was thirty-some years older than Varina, and had been widowed for eight years.  But they both became smitten with each other and on the 27th of February in 1845  they married at Varina's childhood home.

Between 1845 to 1861, Varina and Jeff had spent quite a bit of time apart. Jeff had been elected to Congress, and they moved to Washington DC. Their time there was cut short when he went off to fight in the Mexican War and was gone quite awhile. While he was gone, Varina returned to her parent's home.  Upon his return, Jefferson returned to politics adn in 1861 Jefferson Davis became the President of the Provisional Government of the Confederates States of America. Varina became the First Lady of the Confederacy.  She was thirty-five years old.  She and Jeff had three living children. A fourth child had died in 1852.

Enough of all this background!  The novel tells the story of Varina, from birth to death in a wonderful way. The book begins in 1906 in this way:

"If he is the boy in the blue book, where to start? He can't expect to recognize her after four decades, and he certainly doesn't expect her to recognize him. The last time they saw each other he would have been no more than six."

On the first Sunday of August, James Blake, a middle-aged black man, went to visit Mrs. Davis in New York.  He brought with him a book and a journal. Six months earlier he had come across a book, First Days Among the Contrabands. He had thought that the book was a mystery story, but it wasn't.  The Contrabands were what the freed slaves had been called. Near the end of the book, he read about a young boy who he thought may have been himself.  If so, the book gave him the information that he had never known about who he was.  When he met Varina this time, after forty years, neither recognized the other.  But he shared a memory of Varina's son and as they talked, Varina realized who he was. (I'm not going to give spoilers).

The way the book is divided is by Seven Sundays.  James and Varina met for six consecutive Sundays to sort out all that they had gone through, both during the Civil War years and after the end of the War.  The Seventh Sunday is the last chapter of the book.

I have read a bit of history about Varina and this novel seemed to follow the facts well.  And I loved the way it was written, both style and wording.  Mr. Frazier is a great author and this book is well worth reading!