#WhatsNewTuesday a peek at the women behind powerful men in
history
The New York Times bestselling author of Mrs.
Lincoln's Dressmaker andΒ Mrs. Lincoln's Rival
imagines the inner life of Julia Grant, beloved as a
Civil War generalβs wife and the First Lady, yet who
grappled with a profound and complex relationship with the
slave who was her namesakeβuntil 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
groomβs abolitionist family refused to attend the
ceremony.
Since childhood, Julia owned as a slave
another Julia, known as Jule. Jule guarded her mistressβs
closely held twin secrets: She had perilously poor vision
but was gifted with prophetic sight. So it was that Jule
became Juliaβs 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
ranksβbecoming general in chief of the Union Armyβso 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 husbandβs side.
Yet Julia and Jule saw two
different wars. While Julia spoke out for womenβUnion and
Confederateβshe 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 womenβs paths continued to
cross throughout the Grantsβ White House years in
Washington, DC, and later in New York City, the site of
Grantβs Tomb.
Mrs. Grant and Madame Jule is
the first novel to chronicle this singular relationship,
bound by sight and shadow.
Start Reading MRS. GRANT AND MADAME JULE Now
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