Varina's life is interesting but the structure of the book detracted from the story .

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. But what if a book, billed as historical fiction, deviates from the truth, not just a little but a lot? Is that OK because this is, after all, fiction? If a publisher/author claims it is historical, shouldn’t the reader expect a reconstruction of past events?

That is my problem with VARINA by Charles Frazier. I’m not sure of its accuracy and don’t know if I can be without reading another book about Varina.

Varina was the second wife of Jefferson Davis, the president of a nonexistent country, the Confederacy, during the American Civil War. Although she is not WELL known, many facts about her life are known, and most readers of VARINA assume they are incorporated into this novel. I did. Now I wonder.

VARINA begins long after the Civil War, when Varina is living in the North (which she really did). She reunites with a man who she saved when he was a child. (He really did exist, although they never really reunited.) Now she remembers for him her life before, during, and after the Civil War.

Whenever I read historical fiction I want to know what parts of it are fiction and what parts fact. Usually the author adds notes to make this clear. But Frazier did not add notes to VARINA. So I looked them up on the Internet.

I found an article by Kimberly J. Largent from Ohio State University called “The Life of Varina Howell Davis: First Lady of the Confederacy” (https://ehistory.osu.edu/articles/life-varina-howell-davis-first-lady-confederacy). Much of it differs from VARINA, in particular that Jefferson Davis never got over his first wife and was not a good husband to Varina. According to Largent, they both loved each other very much, and she was not jealous of the first wife at all. Also, when Varina tried to escape with her children to Cuba after the war, the book VARINA has Jefferson meeting with her only once, when they were captured, whereas Largent says he met with them often, off and on during their escape attempt.

So who’s right? I rate VARINA with four stars because I give Frazier the benefit of the doubt that he wrote HISTORICAL fiction, not just fiction. But if the OSU article is correct, I downgrade that to two stars, maybe one.

The jumping around between time periods made it difficult to connect with the characters. It seemed many details were included that did not seem necessary to the story. I should have read the questions first. It wasn’t until I read the questions that I connected more with Varina and Jimmie. Wish I could be there for discussion..