Mrs. Grant and Madame Jule is a riveting drama that follows the lives of Julia, a young and wealthy woman, and Jule, her slave.

If I had to limit this book's description to two words, I would call it a historical drama. Typically, I am not a fan of books like this but somehow Jennifer Chiaverini made me feel attached to these characters. I lost my drive partway through this novel, but I couldn't help myself to jump back in to know the ending of this story.

I felt this book followed Julia more than Jule, but somehow it felt right that there was one star of the show. I would have liked to follow Jule and Gabriel's story a lot more (because I truly felt more attached to those characters than Mr. and Mrs. Grant), but Jennifer decided to follow Julia and her life more actively in the novel. Julia definitely had her flaws since Jennifer made sure to have the character not be the perfect, rich girl. I did appreciate that sentiment, because I'm a little tired of historical novels where the leads are utterly perfect and do no wrong. At times, I did find Julia to be the antagonist more than the protagonist, but that's merely because of her view of the world (which was very typical of the time).

I did not have much background on this book, so it amazed me that Julia and Ulysses Grant were real people! This story is a fictionalized version of their life, but it felt almost real. Due to this book being as interesting as it was, I decided to look up more about Julia and Ulysses Grant. To me, as a reader, I love when a book can open my eyes to a world I didn't realize existed or happened. I am not well versed in American history (since I am Canadian, and my schooling did not involve much of the USA's history), so I'm glad a book like this exists! In my opinion, this book does what I want a book to do - make readers more interested in the topic.

Is this book perfect? No. I felt there was some really slow parts of the book that drove me away from it. That being said, I like constant movement of the plot so the book isn't intended for an audience like me. It's a slow paced book that is about history. I also would have liked to see Julia and Jule interacting more as adults, since the book suggests it is about their relationship. If anything, the misleading title and synopsis are the worst parts of this book. Although, it's a fantastic read and I'd highly recommend it if you love historical fiction, fictionalized stories of real life events, a heartfelt drama, a splash of romance, civil war era books, or American history.

Overall, this book is well written and a nice story. I'd love to read more by Jennifer Chiaverini just to see if she can open my eyes to more historical stories.

Three out of five stars.

I received this book for free through Goodreads First Reads. ( )

This was both a pre & post civil war work of historical fiction featuring Ulysses S. Grant, his wife, Julia Grant, and her one-time slave, Jule. When I purchased the book in 2016, I thought it would be primarily about Mrs. Grant and her slave. I was mistaken. The book is primarily about Mr and Mrs. Grant. This was a great read and I checked out many of the "facts" contained within and have concluded it was based on many true people and episodes. I was delighted that Mark Twain played an important role in the last days of Grant's life. 432 pages ( )

Such an interesting read about President Grant and his wife. I did not know much about them before reading this. I was surprise to learn how connected they were with the Lincoln's as well as the very different life styles and beliefs they had both been brought up in, were pretty opposite of each other. Julie was born and raised in the south, with slaves. She even had her own slave Jule, and Grant was born in the north where slavery and the thought of owning a person was wrong. It was very interesting to read about the struggles they overcame and for Grant to become the President one day. They seemed to have lived a somewhat hard life, in that Grant was always on the move or gone because of war and he always seemed to give 100% to whatever he was doing for the war. It is different in that Grant was more so pushed in presidency than anything, he never had intent to run or become president. ( )

This book provides a succinct history of the career of Ulysses S. Grant, which is fortunate
since the premise of the two women interacting goes pretty flat.

And why? Mrs. Grant remains at heart a southern sympathizer, even to being ready to send a "constable"
to retrieve her family's slave, formerly her childhood companion, when she and her abolitionist husband
venture up north to Ohio from Missouri.

While the Love Conquers All theme was apparently both historical and, as depicted here, fiction,
there is no accounting for how Grant could have fallen for a woman who brings a slave to
accompany them. Why did he not buy her freedom from Julia's cruel father?

And why did Julia chose to be so flagrantly dense, forever selfish, and unfeeling?

And, what accounts for Grant's hatred of Jewish People?
Without thinking or compassion, he ruthlessly removed them from his army.

Jule's reunion with her long lost husband was over-quick and unconvincing,
as was her ongoing refusal to meet with Julia, if only to see if being the wife
of President Grant and a part of his abolitionist family and friends had enlightened her.

At the least, she could have requested an audience with Ulysses and
presented him with some of her famous bottles for his wife. ( )

Covers the life of Julia (Dent) Grant, wife of Civil War General (and later President) Ulysses Grant. She was raised in Missouri, and her family owned slaves. In particular, she was very close at one time to "her" slave, also named Julia, but called Jule. In this fictional account, Julia never perceived as slavery as wrong, or as an integral part of the Civil War. She supported her husband, but felt the secession of the South the only reason for the war. She brings Jule to live with her family in many of the places they go, including often very close to the battles. Eventually, after the Emancipation Proclamation, Jule simply leaves, and starts her own life styling women's hair, and creating and marketing lotions and creams for women. Jule and Julia never reconcile, although many years later Julia seems to come to realize the wrongs of slavery.
The book is much more than the story of Jule and Julia, especially that of "Ulys" and Julia, and of course the war and the battles. But I enjoyed the exploration of Julia's attitude toward slavery, and especially how it eventually evolved. ( )