Harnett Thomas Kane (1910–1984)

This book is a what I consider a fictional biography of Varina Howell Davis. She was the wife of Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederacy. I was highly impressed by the amount of research, and first-hand sources that went into the writing of the book. Ten years of research, studying diaries, letters, etc., visiting all of the places in the book, interviewing surviving family members; all combined to make a novel with a very real sense of setting and character. The book was well written, show more and carried me along swiftly, I finished it off today while I should have been cleaning the house, and finishing Christmas preparations. I gained a new appreciation for the ideals, admirable personages, and struggles of the south during this time. Growing up in Idaho, and with all of my ancestors coming from Northern states, I'm afraid I haven't given much thought to the the views that led the southern states to succeed. The book was very much a view of Jefferson Davis, through the eyes of his wife. I would have appreciated a bit more insight into the life of the family, and more said about the couples children, but the book was written by a man who was trying to stay very true to the facts he had before him, and, presumably, not much was written about the children. show less

This was one tiring read due to the fact that I despise the character of Mrs. Stonewall. She was so of her generation I suppose it was so tiring how she pined away to be with her hubby....I was glad to have finished although it was a short story it was tiresome to read.

An interesting novelization of the background to one of the civil wars better generals and his wife.

Informative history of the people who owned plantations in antebellum days along the Mississippi from New Orleans to Baton Rouge.