Title: Mrs. Grant and Madame JuleAuthor: Jennifer Chiaverini
Genre: Historical Fiction
Synopsis: This story follows Julia Dent Grant and her slave/lady's maid, Jule, from the time they are children through the many eventful years of their lives. Julia's courtship with Ulysses Grant, their marriage, and the birth of their children are just the beginning of a life that seems to never settle down for the Grant family. With the inauguration of Abraham Lincoln and the outbreak of the American Civil War, the Grants work to find time together as Ulysses goes off to fight for a cause his family has long believed in, the abolition of slavery. As an abolitionist's wife from a slave-owning Missouri family, can Julia let go of her roots and fight for the freedom of her beloved Jule?
My Thoughts
This is the fourth novel I have read by Jennifer Chiaverini (Mrs. Lincoln's Dressmaker
, The Spymistress
, and Mrs. Lincoln's Rival) and it did not disappoint. I do not have official reviews on the first two listed, but you should seriously consider reading them both. The Spymistress is still my favorite of the four, but all of them are great Civil War novels from female perspectives. I particularly enjoy the fact that all of the novels take place at the same period of time but in different parts of the United States and from the perspective of the President's wife, a Union supporter living in Richmond, a woman trying to get her politician father elected as the next president, and the wife of a military man. The women all make at least brief appearances in all four novels as they cross paths. It is so well done.
Following the life of Julia Dent Grant and Ulysses S. Grant gave an interesting insight into what life was like for them before and after the Civil War, in addition to the efforts they made to see one another during wartime.
It is also fascinating that while her husband was fighting for and leading the Union forces that Julia continued to have a slave, Jule, as her lady's maid. Because Jule was owned by Julia's father and Missouri wasn't a confederate state, Jule had to remain a slave even after the Emancipation Proclamation gave freedom to the slaves in rebel territories. Both Julia and Jule have conflicting feelings about what granting slaves freedom would mean for each of them.
I am always impressed when an author can keep the reader engaged in a story in which one already knows the outcome. When Julia felt worried about Ulysses at war, I felt worried even though I know he survives to become the President of the United States (spoiler alert! but not really!) When he dies at the end I had tears rolling down my cheeks, even though I know he is dead. Literally, no one depicted in the novel is still alive today, but somehow Chiaverini gives her characters such depth that you are emotionally involved to the very end. I haven't even begun to touch on all of the interesting and important themes that run throughout this novel. I highly recommend it!
If you are interested in the perspective of wives of officers of the Civil War, Southern raised Union supporters, the emancipation of slaves in the United States, recently freed women using their talents to thrive on their own, or just a good love story, then this book is for you.
Comment below if you have read this book or have suggestions for others like it!
To buy this book from Amazon now, click on the image at the top of the post.
To see more from the author, visit the website linked above
This is the fourth novel I have read by Jennifer Chiaverini (Mrs. Lincoln's Dressmaker
, The Spymistress
, and Mrs. Lincoln's Rival) and it did not disappoint. I do not have official reviews on the first two listed, but you should seriously consider reading them both. The Spymistress is still my favorite of the four, but all of them are great Civil War novels from female perspectives. I particularly enjoy the fact that all of the novels take place at the same period of time but in different parts of the United States and from the perspective of the President's wife, a Union supporter living in Richmond, a woman trying to get her politician father elected as the next president, and the wife of a military man. The women all make at least brief appearances in all four novels as they cross paths. It is so well done.Following the life of Julia Dent Grant and Ulysses S. Grant gave an interesting insight into what life was like for them before and after the Civil War, in addition to the efforts they made to see one another during wartime.
It is also fascinating that while her husband was fighting for and leading the Union forces that Julia continued to have a slave, Jule, as her lady's maid. Because Jule was owned by Julia's father and Missouri wasn't a confederate state, Jule had to remain a slave even after the Emancipation Proclamation gave freedom to the slaves in rebel territories. Both Julia and Jule have conflicting feelings about what granting slaves freedom would mean for each of them.
I am always impressed when an author can keep the reader engaged in a story in which one already knows the outcome. When Julia felt worried about Ulysses at war, I felt worried even though I know he survives to become the President of the United States (spoiler alert! but not really!) When he dies at the end I had tears rolling down my cheeks, even though I know he is dead. Literally, no one depicted in the novel is still alive today, but somehow Chiaverini gives her characters such depth that you are emotionally involved to the very end. I haven't even begun to touch on all of the interesting and important themes that run throughout this novel. I highly recommend it!
If you are interested in the perspective of wives of officers of the Civil War, Southern raised Union supporters, the emancipation of slaves in the United States, recently freed women using their talents to thrive on their own, or just a good love story, then this book is for you.
Comment below if you have read this book or have suggestions for others like it!
To buy this book from Amazon now, click on the image at the top of the post.
To see more from the author, visit the website linked above
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