Review
I have to admit that I didn't particularly enjoy
Cold Mountain.
Having read it almost 10 years ago I can't remember exactly why I took agin it,
but I think it was to do with the pacing - it just seemed to take an awfully long
time for anything to happen. So it was with a certain degree of
trepidation that I picked up
Thirteen Moons - but what a surprise, things
seemed to be setting themselves up for a ripping good, action filled yarn - 12-year-old orphan
boy sent out West to the Appalachian mountain region as a bound boy, finds a
father figure in a Cherokee chief, becomes an honorary member of the Cherokee Nation, gets
involved with the Indian wars, the Civil War, and all the politics of the time -
this is good stuff! Frazier's descriptions of the
fledgling Washington City, and his vignettes of the key players of the time are
exceptionally well...
Beyond the Book
Charles Frazier was born in 1950 in Asheville, North Carolina and grew up in
the mountains of North Carolina. He graduated from the University of North
Carolina in 1973, received an M.A. from Appalachian State University, and
a Ph.D. in English from the University of South Carolina in 1986.
His first novel,
Cold Mountain, was an international bestseller, and
won the National Book Award in 1997. It traces the journey of Inman, a
wounded deserter from the Confederate army. The story is based in part on
Frazier's great-great-uncle , W. P. Inman. A movie adaptation was
released in 2003.
His second novel,
Thirteen Moons, was
published in 2006, with an $8 million advance from his USA publisher. He
currently raises...
