Based on local history and family stories passed down by the author's great-great-grandfather, Cold Mountain is the tale of a wounded soldier Inman, who walks away from the ravages of the war and back home to his prewar sweetheart, Ada. Inman's odyssey through the devastated landscape of the soon-to-be-defeated South interweaves with Ada's struggle to revive her father's farm, with the help of an intrepid young drifter named Ruby. As their long-separated lives begin to converge at the close of the war, Inman and Ada confront the vastly transformed world they've been delivered. Charles Frazier reveals marked insight into man's relationship to the land and the dangers of solitude. He also shares with the great nineteenth-century novelists a keen observation of a society undergoing change. Cold Mountain re-creates a world gone by that speaks eloquently to our time.

Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier is a historical fiction novel set during the American Civil War. The story follows the journey of Inman, a wounded Confederate soldier, as he tries to make his way back home to Cold Mountain and to his love, Ada. Along the way, he encounters various challenges and meets new people, including the resourceful Ruby. The novel explores themes of love, loss, and survival in a time of war. Winner of the National Book Award for Fiction and other prestigious awards, Cold Mountain is a must-read for fans of historical fiction.