<DIV><I>Cold Mountain</I> is an extraordinary novel about a soldier's perilous journey back to his beloved at the end of the Civil War. At once a magnificent love story and a harrowing account of one man's long walk home, <I>Cold Mountain</I> introduces a stunning new talent in American literature.<br><BR>Based on local history and family stories passed down by the author's great-great-grandfather, <I>Cold Mountain</I> 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.<BR><BR>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. <I>Cold Mountain</I> re-creates a world gone by that speaks eloquently to our time.</DIV>