Dutton
August 2016
On Sale: August 16, 2016
Featuring: Madame Jule; Mrs. Grant
432 pages ISBN: 1101983833 EAN: 9781101983836 Kindle: B00SA4ZU94 Trade Size / e-Book (reprint) Add to Wish List
The New York Times bestselling author of Mrs. Lincoln's Dressmaker and Mrs. Lincoln's Rival imagines the inner life of Julia Grant, beloved as a Civil War generalโs wife and the First Lady, yet who grappled with a profound and complex relationship with the slave who was her namesakeโuntil she forged a proud identity of her own.
In 1844, Missouri belle Julia Dent met dazzling horseman Lieutenant Ulysses S Grant. Four years passed before their parents permitted them to wed, and the groomโs abolitionist family refused to attend the ceremony.
Since childhood, Julia owned as a slave another Julia, known as Jule. Jule guarded her mistressโs closely held twin secrets: She had perilously poor vision but was gifted with prophetic sight. So it was that Jule became Juliaโs eyes to the world.
And what a world it was, marked by gathering clouds of war. The Grants vowed never to be separated, but as Ulysses rose through the ranksโbecoming general in chief of the Union Armyโso did the stakes of their pact. During the war, Julia would travel, often in the company of Jule and the four Grant children, facing unreliable transportation and certain danger to be at her husbandโs side.
Yet Julia and Jule saw two different wars. While Julia spoke out for womenโUnion and Confederateโshe continued to hold Jule as a slave behind Union lines. Upon the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation, Jule claimed her freedom and rose to prominence as a businesswoman in her own right, taking the honorary title Madame. The two womenโs paths continued to cross throughout the Grantsโ White House years in Washington, DC, and later in New York City, the site of Grantโs Tomb.
Mrs. Grant and Madame Jule is the first novel to chronicle this singular relationship, bound by sight and shadow.
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