Varina by Charles Frazier

So what do you know about Jefferson Davis other than he was the President of the Confederacy? I am not even sure I ever got past the lists of battles in the Civil War to know what happened to anybody - blue or grey.  And for sure I did not know that Davis had a wife named Varina and that she might have felt the need to escape with her family from Virginia after the war as a criminal.  Frazier brings a wealth of historical research to this book just as he did to Cold Mountain.  Her story is gradually revealed over six days in discussion with a teacher named James Blake who, in 1906, is trying to fill in the hazy memories he has of a childhood when he was known as "Limber Jimmy."  He is convinced that their stories are connected.  Every book of historical fiction is a reminder of how many holes there are in my knowledge of history.  Add this to the list.