
Historical fiction book · Curated
Cold Mountain
Charles Frazier · historical fiction
Wounded Confederate soldier Inman walks home across North Carolina toward Ada, who is learning to keep a mountain farm alive as the Civil War wrecks the Blue Ridge. Frazier’s National Book Award winner is Civil War historical fiction of desertion, survival, and a love story paced to the land.
Why read it: A landmark American Civil War novel—literary historical fiction of the home front and the long walk home, still the title many readers search after Gone with the Wind.
About this historical novel
Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier is historical fiction set around 1864 in the Civil War period with key settings including North Carolina, Blue Ridge, Cold Mountain. Wounded Confederate soldier Inman walks home across North Carolina toward Ada, who is learning to keep a mountain farm alive as the Civil War wrecks the Blue Ridge. Frazier’s National Book Award winner is Civil War historical fiction of desertion, survival, and a love story paced to the land.
On HisFic we tag it under 1. Literary historical fiction, 2. Historical romance, and 6. Adventure & epic so you can pair it with similar story types. Recurring themes include war, homecoming, survival, love, and desertion. A landmark American Civil War novel—literary historical fiction of the home front and the long walk home, still the title many readers search after Gone with the Wind.
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Plot summary
Wounded Confederate soldier Inman walks home across North Carolina toward Ada, who is learning to keep a mountain farm alive as the Civil War wrecks the Blue Ridge. Frazier’s National Book Award winner is Civil War historical fiction of desertion, survival, and a love story paced to the land. A landmark American Civil War novel—literary historical fiction of the home front and the long walk home, still the title many readers search after Gone with the Wind.
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Eras
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Regions & places
North America
North Carolina · Blue Ridge · Cold Mountain
Themes
- war
- homecoming
- survival
- love
- desertion
Tags
literary · award-winner · book-club