pstrongemSooner or later, history asks, which side were you onemstrongppstrongIn his powerful new novel, Charles Frazier returns to the time and place of emCold Mountainem, vividly bringing to life the chaos and devastation of the Civil WarstrongppHer 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. 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. ppThe Confederacy falling, her marriage in tatters, and the country divided, Varina and her children escape Richmond, Virginia, and travel south on their own, now fugitives with bounties on their heads, an entire nation in pursuit. ppIntimate in its detailed observations of one woman's tragic life, and epic in its scope and power, emVarina emis a