Bride of Fortune Author:Harnett T. Kane No woman in America ever lived a life like that of vivid Varina Howell Davis, the First Lady of the Confederacy, " Queen of the Lost Cause . " Born an aristocrat in cotton - rich Natchez on the Mississippi, she left her home at eighteen to face an uncertain future as the wife of an enigmatic country man, Jefferson Davis - and to embark on a swi... more »ft, kaleidoscopic career with such as she had never dreamed of.
At his side she rose to eminence in the turbulent years that brought war between North and South. She knew giddy triumph - the tinseled success of a great beauty, a triumphant woman of the world of Washington, D.C. She knew sudden ups and downs - defeat, sorrow, loss, and retirement to her river plantation.
Then, again, came a swift rise to rank higher than before - that of a Cabinet wife, with the country's decisions being made all around her, and a part for her in the making. For a time it seemed that the White House of Washington would be her eventual home. Again, a step downward, and then up again, to the rank of the Confederacy's Lustrous Lady. Dazzling days again, and then trial and defeat - the black hours of a fugitive, her young children helpless around her, her husband facing death. In these hours she became a great personage, a human being fighting for survival, and she won.
Above all, Bride of Fortune is the story of a woman in love - a portrait of a passionate, warm - hearted woman who never faltered in her devotion. For Varina and Jefferson Davis, it was one long love affair. Here is a picture of modern America in the making of Washington and wartime Richmond from inside, and the story of the woman behind the man in the spotlight.« less