“A rare and extraordinary book . . . heart-stopping . . . spellbinding.”—San Francisco Chronicle

“A page turner that attains the status of literature.”—Newsweek

“Finely drawn, full of dark beauty and presentiment.”—New Yorker

“An astonishing first novel.”—New York Review of Books

Charles Frazier’s debut novel Cold Mountain made publishing history in 1997 when it stood at the top of the New York Times best-seller list for sixty-one weeks, won numerous literary awards, including the National Book Award, and went on to sell over three million copies. Now reissued for its twentieth year, this extraordinary tale of a soldier’s perilous journey back to his beloved at the end of the Civil War is at once an enthralling adventure, a stirring love story, and a luminous evocation of a vanished land. Adapted into an Oscar nominated movie starring Nicole Kidman and Jude Law, and a 2015 opera co-commissioned between Santa Fe Opera, Opera Philadelphia and the Minnesota Opera, Cold Mountain portrays an era that continues to speak eloquently to our time.

“A haunting, beautifully written tale.”—USA Today

“Strikingly beautiful.”—Newsday

“A richly rewarding first novel . . . Wonderfully convincing, finely detailed.” —Christian Science Monitor