In his powerful new novel, Charles Frazier returns to the time and place of Cold Mountain, vividly bringing to life the chaos and devastation of the Civil War.. Also, who is the mysterious character of Laura, who befriended Varina when they were both guests at the health spa in Saratoga Springs?
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They were definitely eccentric and not typical Southern planters. At the end of the book they are trying expensive new medical treatments for her. He described the Gray House as being in downtown Richmond, which is where it is now, in the middle of MCV medical campus. Q: Why did you choose Varina Davis to write about now — was it influenced by the efforts of some today to remove statues of Confederate leaders, including her husband Jefferson Davis, president of the Confederacy?
Tell me about their relationship. Historical fiction appeals to many people because they take for granted that it teaches them history but in a novel (as opposed to history book) form. Membership is free & gives you access to book giveaways, author chats & your private, free book club page. I wanted it to feel to her like a child had returned. Varina's life is interesting but the structure of the book detracted from the story . That war and its cause — the ownership of human beings — live so deep in our nation’s history and identity that we still haven’t found a way to reconcile and move forward. I realize the story is about Varina but is there evidence of her confronting the peculiar institution? Also, Varina had lost so many of her own children, and, in Laura, she finds someone to take care of. Join the leading website for book clubs with over 35,000 clubs and 20,000 reading guides. Q: Please tell me how you hope “Varina” will address your concerns about some of the unrest about race that we still see lingering in our country, with the removal of Confederate statues and the division we continue to hear in the national rhetoric. Did anyone feel that the issue of slavery was somehow diluted with the portraits given in this book?
The stranger turns out to be the young boy she took in off the streets of Richmond 40 years ago, who is searching for clues about his own identity.
Her marriage prospects limited, teenage Varina Howell agrees to wed the much-older widower Jefferson Davis, with whom she expects the secure life of a Mississippi landowner. She told (her friend) Mary Chesnut that he would be president and that “it will be a disaster.” They had just settled back in at their home at Davis Bend (near Vicksburg) when word came. For example, the way she suddenly left during her husband’s inauguration in Montgomery, with no explanation. Recommended to book clubs by 3 of 3 members. Her marriage prospects limited, teenage Varina Howell agrees to wed the much-older widower Jefferson Davis, with whom she expects the secure life of a Mississippi landowner. Recommended to book clubs by 3 of 3 members. In his powerful new novel, Charles Frazier returns to the time and place of Cold Mountain, vividly bringing to life the chaos and devastation of the Civil War. Varina had expected him to be named the president and didn’t feel like he had the temperament for the job. He has come to her for answers about his own identity, and she provides clues as she tells her story.
In his powerful new novel, Charles Frazier returns to the time and place of Cold Mountain, vividly bringing to life the chaos and devastation of the Civil War. Whoever wrote description has no idea that the Appalachian Mountains of North Carolina and the Mississippi Delta are completely different regions over 700 m/1100 km apart. There was no downtown then. © 2020 www.clarionledger.com.
She was well educated in Charleston and was known for being smart and quick witted. Different terrain, different ideology, different economics, different culture, different accent. I think of historical fiction as a conversation between the present and the past, and Varina Davis’ life offered me a complex entry point into that dialogue. Her marriage prospects limited, teenage Varina Howell agrees to wed the much-older widower Jefferson Davis, with whom she expects the secure life of a Mississippi landowner. The year is 1906, and the story begins just weeks before her death at age 80, when she gets a surprise visit from a middle-aged African-American man she doesn’t recognize. Reader Q&A, Mississippi was still a frontier area when she was growing up there, and it bothered some people who that she was not as polished. Create a login & Join us! She performed a lot of the conventional duties of a first lady but was constantly criticized by people in Richmond, for being too opinionated, too sharp-witted. She viewed Ellen as her friend and was genuinely baf.
The story that (Varina’s friend) Mary Chesnut told was that Varina was riding through Richmond in a carriage and she witnessed the boy being mistreated and took him in; there is another story that there was a group of boys, including her sons, running around Richmond and they brought him home with them. Frazier, who won the National Book Award for his internationally bestselling debut novel “Cold Mountain” in 1997, has said that he believes events of the past few years have left America still searching for a resolution to issues concerning race and slavery. I think Varina lived in her intellectual ivory tower. Mary Chesnut and Varina were friends in the real world.
Ultimately, the book is a portrait of a woman who comes to realize that complicity carries consequences. He described the Gray House as being in downtown Richmond, which is where it is now, in the middle o. Frazier also did not do his homework on Richmond. For Laura’s character, I pictured someone with lots of problems whose rich parents sent away to get better. Sign up for your FREE email about the latest top book club picks, exclusive book giveaways, new releases, and online author events. Q: When Jefferson Davis learned that he had been appointed president of the Confederacy, he and Varina took the news with a sense of dread. And it’s important to remember that most of those monuments didn’t spring up right after 1865, but are largely a product of the Jim Crow South. In his powerful new novel, Charles Frazier returns to the time and place of Cold Mountain, vividly bringing to life the chaos and devastation of the Civil War. Amidst a timely controversy about the relevance of Confederate monuments scattered across the South and a national discussion about race, Charles Frazier’s newest novel examines the role of Varina Davis, wife of the Confederacy’s only president, Jefferson Davis, and her influence on history. The Davis "plantation" was Jeff's brother's experiment in social harmony. Calling her a feminist is a stretch in my mind.....ahead of her time with learning but still uses her female talents. Varina did indeed rescue a mixed race child Jimmy Limber. Ellen was keenly aware that Varina was her owner and that she was a slave. His new book looks at the Confederacy through eyes of Jefferson Davis' wife, Varina. I don’t know if Varina was a big (user), but I do know Mary Chesnut was.
As she recounts her story of the war years and beyond, he begins to clarify his personal history. They quarreled over his will that left her totally dependent on his brother. Ask the Author. (All four of her sons had died young.) My impresson as a northerner was one of looking the otherway to the horrors. But what if a book, billed as historica... (read more). Q: Tell me about Varina’s role as the Confederacy’s only first lady, especially considering that she didn’t agree with her husband on everything politically, and this was a job she never asked for. Is there some evidence of Varina actually taking a child into her family in this manner? The (recorded) history of that child ends in 1865. I sincerely doubt that Varina ever saw the horrors of slavery. You can pose questions to the Goodreads community with No, Jim Limber actually lived in the Davis household. Can this book be read as a stand alone or should Cold Mountain be read first? Davis instead pursues a career in politics and is eventually appointed president of the Confederacy, placing Varina at the white-hot center of one of the darkest moments in American history—culpable regardless of her intentions. He described the Gray House as being in downtown Richmond, which is where it is now, in the middle o…more Frazier also did not do his homework on Richmond. Varina, by Charles Frazier Charles Frazier, author of Cold Mountain, has released a new historical fiction about Varina Howell Davis, Jefferson Davis’ wife. Readers’ questions about Varina. Drury Frazier also did not do his homework on Richmond. Amidst a timely controversy about the relevance of Confederate monuments scattered across the South and a national discussion about race, Charles Frazier’s newest novel examines the role of Varina Davis, wife of the Confederacy’s only president, Jefferson Davis, and her influence on history. At a time in life when most people start slowing down, she was digging her heels in, thinking mostly about her work, writing. They met in Washington when each was 18 and their husbands were members of Congress. The Confederacy falling, her marriage in tatters, and the country divided, Varina and her children escape Richmond and travel south on their own, now fugitives with “bounties on their heads, an entire nation in pursuit.”. Both were depressed about it. Is the character Jimmie Limber entirely a fictional device? They're set in the South and in the same time period, but otherwise are completely different narratives. Mary was from South Carolina.
Just a moment while we sign you in to your Goodreads account. She married Jefferson Davis when she was 18 and he was 37. The novel is crafted around the conversations of an aging Varina with a man she had apparently rescued as a child — a man she had not seen in 40 years.
Q: Varina was a remarkably strong and independent woman, well-educated and ahead of her time in her thinking about political and social issues. I expect some periods of Varina’s life could be explained by her use of it. Q: Do you have other writings in the works at this time, or ideas for your next project? 6 questions answered. I’ve got a couple ideas in the works and will decide which one to pursue this summer.
All rights reserved. How would you describe their marriage relationship, with its many moves, the tumultuous time in the country, and the deaths of their four sons at a young age? Ellen cherished her freedom. She was always an outlier, not accepted in women's "society". Discussion Questions - PLG_CONTENT_PAGEBREAK_PAGE_NUM - LitLovers They were actually based out of Butcher Hill, which was a grouping of shanties in the Shockoe Valley just below the bluff on which the Gray House stands. ISBN-13: 9780062405982 Summary Sooner or later, history asks, which side were you on? In his powerful new novel, Charles Frazier returns to the time and place of Cold Mountain, vividly bringing to life the chaos and devastation of the Civil War. Signing: 5 p.m. April 25, Off Square Books, Oxford; 5 p.m. April 26, Eudora Welty House, Jackson.