Mrs. Grant and Madame Jule

As a child Julia Dent owned a slave girl about her own age. They played together, had secrets,and grew up together. The slave became known as Jule.

In 1844 Julia Dent a southern girl from Missouri met Lieutenant Ulysses S. Grant after four years their parents agreed the couple could get married. Jule continued to be Julia’s slave although General Grant was a Union Army Officer. After the marriage the couple vowed never to separated. The Grants had four children, which at times stayed with their grandparents until the parents could get settled in their new home. General Grant sometimes took his son to the battlefield with him in safe zones.

Jule had also married a black slave, later he was sold and Jule lost track of him. She was always watching for him wherever she went. After the Emancipation Proclamation Jule disappeared in a crowded rail station to find her freedom. Jule became a very successful business woman in Washington D.C.

This book is full of Civil War battles and Julia and their children are always travelling to be with her husband. In the end Grant is on his death bed writing his memoirs and trying to get them publishd so Julia and their grown children will be taken care of after his death. This is truly a remarkable book about Julia Dent and Ulysses S. Grant from marriage to their death.

A love story with Civil War battles described in detail, it pulls at your heart strings and touches all your emotions. An amazing experience reading and listening to the audio with many crisp, clear voices is so entertaining.

A complete love story during the Civil War, a good clean historical fiction romance, a wonderful book.

Because I enjoy historical fiction, I found that the story of General Ulysses S. Grant and his wife Julia, about whom I knew virtually nothing, although I did remember knowing that she had a “cast” eye, was quite compelling. It was a bit distracting that many of the battles that brought such fame to “Ulys” were not familiar to me, but then I am not a Civil War specialist.

Since I enjoy reading historical novels, and learning from them, with this book I once again quickly became being further immersed in an era that continues to be fascinating in its political, social, and moral ways..
The story of Julia and her slave, Jule, was at once evocative, and distressing and it was helpful that the author was so explicit in describing Jule’s feelings about slavery; Julia Grant served well as a mouthpiece for the popular philosophy of the subject as was reflected by many of that era, both in the south and the north, although to a lesser extent.
The author dwelt, I felt, a bit excessively about the loving relationship between General and Mrs. Grant; however, it may have been necessary to the story as so many marriages during those times were not based on love, but on convenience. If that were the case in this novel, I did feel that the author could have inserted another example of Civil War period marriage as a foil for the Grants’.
I greatly enjoyed “Mrs. Lincoln’s Dressmaker” and was happy to see her character woven into this novel as well.
All in all, I learned a lot about the period covered in the book, and enjoyed reading it,

This moved a little slowly for me. I think the book would have benefited from some judicious editing, as sometimes it seemed like details of the war were narrated into the story as a way to add pages and demonstrate the level of research that had been done. A little too much telling rather than showing for my taste. That being said, I did enjoy learning more about Grant and his wife, and the book piqued my interest in further reading about them.

I hadn’t really known much about Julia Grant so I found this story quite interesting. The only thing that bothered me a bit about it was that at times she seemed almost too good to be true. Not being from the South, I found her attitude toward slavery a bit naive at times, but probably I wouldn’t have felt quite this way, if I had grown up in an old Southern family.
It was a wonderful love story about Julia and Pres. Grant, but I again found it interesting to find out that in the stories that he was writing at the end of his life, that he did not include Julia as much of an influence on his life and decisions.
Jule’s story was a sad one but she did triumph in the end. I was rather disappointed to find that most of her story was made up by Ms Chiaverini.
I guess that was how she thought we might understand more clearly how Julia Grant viewed slavery.
Even with my feelings about parts of the book, I would recommend reading it.

The scene is prior to, during and following the Civil War. Although there is not violence by today’s standards – there was mention of injury and/or death.

The story is not just about Julia’s relationship with Ulysses and Jule’s love/lost love, but about the relationship between a white woman who was raised thinking slavery was a ‘favor’ and a black woman who was very fond (although at times was skeptical) of her mistress/master, but knew her true potential was more! The relationship these two women had with one another and others show the changing of the times. It’s a story of love, friendship, hardship, confidence… and even loss.

I don’t read much fiction – but I would read this again and again! The only down side was learning (which I didn’t know until the end) that if was indeed fiction. The author has the reader IN the book – in the time period, feeling and reacting to events. It was very well done.

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