The General and Julia

by Jon Clinch

Ulysses S. Grant reflects on the crucial moments of his life as a husband, a father, a general, and a president while writing his memoirs and reckoning with his complicated legacy in this epic and intimate work of “superb historical fiction” (Booklist, starred review).

Barely able to walk and rendered mute by the cancer metastasizing in his throat, Ulysses S. Grant is scratching out words, hour after hour, day after day. Desperate to complete his memoirs before his death so his family might have some financial security and he some redemption, Grant journeys back in time.

He had once been the savior of the Union, the general to whom Lee surrendered at Appomattox, a twice-elected president who fought for the civil rights of Black Americans and against the rising Ku Klux Klan, a plain farmer-turned-business magnate who lost everything to a Wall Street swindler, a devoted husband to his wife Julia, and a loving father to four children. In this gorgeously rendered and moving novel, Grant rises from the page in all of his contradictions and foibles, his failures and triumphs.

Moving from blood-stained battlefields to Gilded Age New York, the novel explores how Grant’s own views on race and Reconstruction changed over time. “A graceful, moving narrative” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review) from historical fiction master Jon Clinch, this evocatively crafted novel breathes fresh life into an American icon.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Civil War, War, Historical, American History, Literary Fiction

269 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 14, 2023

About the author

Jon Clinch’s first novel, Finn—the secret history of Huckleberry Finn’s father—was named an American Library Association Notable Book and was chosen as one of the year’s best books by The Washington Post, The Christian Science Monitor, and The Chicago Tribune. His second novel, Kings of the Earth, was named a Best Book of the Year by The Washington Post and led the 2010 Summer Reading List at O, The Oprah Magazine. A native of upstate New York, Jon lives with his wife in the Green Mountains of Vermont.

Reviews

[Diane S ☔ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Several years back I read the biography of Grant, written by Ron Chernow. The book was almost a thousand pages, which for me is unusual, but by the time I finished, I wished it was longer. It was my favorite book of that year and I ended the book in tears.

This book, so realistically portrays this noble man, his family, his triumphs and sorrows, his end. Clinch does a terrific job drawing us into Grants world, a more personal rendering. Chapters are alternated between the present in his time, when he is dying and his past. An excellent addition, albeit a fictional portrayal, to add to the Grant oeuvre. And again I ended this book in tears.

You know that question. The one when you are asked who you would like to meet, in the past, if you could. One of mine would be Ulysses S. Grant.

[Cheri · Rating 5 out of 5]

A retrospective glimpse at a life that chronicles the years of Ulysses S. Grant as he looks back on his life as not just a former Commanding General, and former president, but his personal life with a wife, a family, and the years of the war, as well as the eventual surrender. As a president who served two terms, he promoted the civil rights of all Americans, and was opposed to the Ku Klux Klan. A man who loved his wife and wanted to leave a better legacy, a better world for his children and theirs.

As he searches his memories of those days during the war, there is both mental pain over the things he witnessed during the war, the horror of so many deaths, so many widows and children who were left fatherless, the horror of the things that haunt him still, and so he puts pen to paper in an effort to leave something behind. As his health deteriorates, he is determined to continue writing through the pain, desperate to leave memories for his children, his wife, and his country, and perhaps some degree of absolution in the process.

It’s been a while since I’ve read Jon Clinch, but I have loved those I’ve read before. This one felt very different from the others that I’ve read, as though it came from a more personal place. It has its dark moments, but those moments seem to be more on Grant’s reflections of what he could have done differently, how he wishes he could leave this world and his family with something more.

A thought-provoking, beautifully rendered and moving story of his life, his failures, and the legacy he leaves behind.


Pub Date: 14 Nov 2023

Many thanks for the ARC provided by Atria Books

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

In this historical fiction short novella type story, we see General Grant in his last days, dying of cancer in the Adirondacks. Knowing that he is in his last days, he is given an opportunity to reflect back on his glorious life which allows readers to be transported back in time, with him, to his past.

This reflection is a personal one for him. It is also an opportunity to make sure his family is protected after his death through the legacy that his writer friend, will secure for him through an advance – that writer being, Samuel Clemens.

And so, readers will be taken on this amazing emotional journey.

Grant yes, he was heroic, but the author also shows him as a real human being, too – flawed, affecting, convincing, shortsighted, imperfect, contradictory, and a truly important person in our American history.

Those who love American history and historical fiction will resonate with the author’s elegant prose and depiction of the portrait of the times shared.

[Diane Barnes · Rating 5 out of 5]

This one started out like a lot of books. I read a description, got on the hold list at the library, because that's a great way to test a novel. If it doesn't grab me within a chapter or two, no harm done, it simply gets returned with very little outlay of time or effort. But there the resemblance ends.

From the first page I could tell that this author's style was special. General Ulysses S. Grant was a man who commanded my respect and admiration and I wanted to know more of his story. It is written from the viewpoint of a man desperately trying to finish his memoirs while battling the end stages of throat cancer, racing the clock and the pain to insure that his family would be provided for after his death. As he does that, he also retreats into his memories of his military career, the Civil War, his presidency, and his total financial ruin by trusting a scam artist. A lot of these things I knew, even more I did not.

Some of these scenes brought me to tears, especially Lee's surrender to him at Appomattox. His love and devotion to his wife and 4 children, his capacity for forgiveness and mercy, and his changing views of former slaves and what they were capable of if given a chance to expand their minds beyond the reach of plantation work, all signs of a compassionate and intelligent man.

As all good books do, it added to my list of other works to be read in the future. Most notably the Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant and A Stillness at Appomattox. Plus I'll be checking into other works by Jon Clinch. Yet another new to me author who seems to be a phenomenal writer.

[Joanne · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the very best books I have read this year. The meat of the story is NOT about the war. It is about love, duty, family, friendship and the life of the " I am only human" man who reluctantly became the hero of the nation.

Near the end of his life, Ulysses S. Grant sits in a remote cabin, writing the final chapters of his memoir. The importance of finishing the manuscript weighs heavy on him as he suffers from the pain of the cancer that has taken over his body.

Jon Clinch does a fabulous job of reaching into the soul of Grant and exposing the unknown softer side of a husband and father. The writing is entrancing making the book hard to put down.

Highly recommended, I know that many of you would love it.

[Joy D · Rating 4 out of 5]

Much has been written about the life of Ulysses Grant, including his own memoirs, and I have read several non-fiction accounts. This book is historical fiction that provides a more personal perspective. It covers the years 1843 to the end of his life in 1885. Grant reflects back on particular time periods. Each chapter contains both Grant’s reflections on a memorable experience and the time he spent writing his memoirs in a cabin in New York. We learn much about his family, financial difficulties, and friendship with Mark Twain.

The writing is cinematic. I could picture these scenes as they might appear on screen. I particularly enjoyed one of the opening vignettes that portrays his first with meeting his (then future) wife, Julia. Another favorite is the surrender of Robert E. Lee at Appomattox. It covers the American Civil War years but is not solely about the war. Those who enjoy accurately depicted historical fiction will surely enjoy it. This is the first book I have read by Jon Clinch, and I look forward to investigating what else he has written.

[The History Mom · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was my most anticipated book releasing in the fall and it did not disappoint! A beautifully written, searing look at the life of Ulysses S. Grant, The General and Julia by Jon Clinch will be one of my favorite books of the year.

A literary take on historical fiction, this novel weaves through time to look at Grant’s life as a young husband, military general, president, and dying man writing his memoir to save his family from ruin. Clinch does a masterful job at structuring the story in a way that’s easy to follow even with all of the time jumps. I was familiar with the basic story of his life, but reading Clinch’s lyrical prose was illuminating and mesmerizing. Even with its slow pace and beautiful language, I read the book in a day. It’s engrossing and a must read for any historical fiction fan who wants to learn about a little known time in American history.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for my ARC.

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like Jon Clinch’s books and this one is no exception. Historical fiction exploring personal aspects of General Grant’s life-his marriage to Julia and his financial dealings later in his life. Told in shifting points of time the book brings texture and depth to Grant’s life- all the while illuminating the times in which he lived. Clinch is and excellent novelist and one of the best practitioners of intelligent historical fiction extant. Highly recommended.

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

Clinch's beautifully understated sixth novel revisits scenes from Ulysses S. Grant's life as the former president races to finish his memoirs while dying of cancer. Each chapter is given a title or date heading to make it easy for readers to orient themselves in the timeline. Segues are natural, and flashbacks are occasionally presented as if Grant is not just remembering incidents but reliving them through medication-fueled hallucinations. My misgivings arise from aspects I wished had been explored in more depth. The title led me to expect that Julia would play a larger role. In addition, more time might have been devoted to an incident concerning Jule, an enslaved woman in the Dent and Grant households. Nevertheless, the novel presents an affecting portrait of a lesser-known president and his family ties, and Clinch creates an elegant flow between the past and present. (More of a 3.5, really.)

See my full review at BookBrowse. (See also my related article on Mark Twain's publication of Ulysses Grant's memoirs.)

[Kathleen Hinchman · Rating 5 out of 5]

This might be my favorite Clinch novel. As with all his writing, this novel was extraordinarily well written (e.g., word selection, sentence construction, narrative structure). This rendering demonstrated extraordinary empathy toward most characters' perspectives. Much is known about many of these individuals, but their humanity is far more evident in this fictionalized account than in most others.

[Rebecca Sloop · Rating 3 out of 5]

"The General and Julia" is a story basically made up of snippets or vignettes from different points throughout Ulysses S. Grant's life, alternating with the last days of his life as he tried to finish his memoir to secure financial security for his wife, Julia, and their children and grandchildren. This was well written from a language perspective. I liked the structure and the pacing was good. It bothered me that some of the vignettes were not in chronological order. The book was promoted as if it was going to show how Grant's feelings about race changed over time. There are two African American characters in the book, Jule and Terrell, both of whom were servents to the Grant family. Neither character is well developed, but nor are Grant's feelings about these characters. I really did not get a feel for Grant's feelings or voice at all, the book primarily focuses on his financial ruin. The only feeling of Grant's that came through well was a feeling of desperation to finish his memoir. I did not like how the treatment of the pain associated with his cancer put him in a state of delirium. While it may have been historically accurate, these parts were confusing and it seemed as if they were a mechanism used by the author to allow Grant to relive his past. This seemed unnecessary as it could have been done by Grant simply reflecting on his past. In summary, much as how Grant is counseled by Samuel Clemens and the publisher of the Century magazine to include more of his own voice in the initial story he writes about Chattanooga, this book would have been better if Grant's voice was stronger. The one message that comes through loud and clear is that smoking is bad. Would recommend to fans of historical fiction, the American Civil War and/or Reconstruction era, presidential history, or fans of Grant himself.

[Katie Tano · Rating 5 out of 5]

this book felt like your grandfather sitting down with you and telling you the story of his life. jon clinch brought alive the legend of a man that is ulysses s grant. i felt a true connection to these long gone people in the way clinch wrote about them. i know it is fiction, but i learned things i didn’t know about grant while reading this. all i knew was that he was the union general. i didn’t know he was a president, the name of his wife, he had three children, he smoked cigars, or even how he died. i think the truest testament to how much i enjoyed this book though, is that now i want to read grant’s memoirs. i now want to know his story in his own words. clinch did that for me. i had no draw to ulysses s grant before, and now i do.

i received an advanced reader copy of this book and all opinions are my own.

[Stephanie Fitzgerald · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this one!
An historical fiction account of U.S. Grants’ last days as he struggles to finish his memoirs. His throat eaten with cancer, and enduring severe pain, Grant nevertheless is determined to leave his beloved family with some financial resources. The reader is taken back in time, through Grants’ eyes, as he remembers and records scenes from the battlefields of the Civil War. Happier times with his wife and children are also included, and the man’s urgency to remember everything he can, before it’s too late, is palpable.

[Claire · Rating 2 out of 5]

UGH. A bonus star for Mark Twain. Thought this was going to be about Grant and his wife - Julia is barely in it. Dry as dust.

[Sunnie · Rating 4 out of 5]

At first glance, The General and Julia” by Jon Clinch seemed much like any other book of its ilk. However, by the end I had gained a new appreciation for both General (President) Grant and his beloved wife Julia, their deep and abiding devotion to each other, and the tremendous difficulties suffered by them in the latter portion of his life. Grant felt that Julia was always with him even when they were separated by war. The tale within a tale about the uniforms worn by Generals Grant and Lee at the surrender certainly held great fascination and significance to me. As I turned the final page I truly felt that I had a much better understanding of the Civil War, the way a good man lives his best life, and the way that the love a good woman brings to her husband can cause him to rise or fall. A solid 4.75 stars for this ARC provided to me by the publisher, Atria Books, for my unbiased review. Recommended for history buffs of all ages.

[Susan Luchars · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received a netgalley copy of this excellent book. Hope it is well received when it's published in November. I found it fascinating. Highly recommend.

[Kathryn Bashaar · Rating 5 out of 5]

I often don't enjoy books written as a series of vignettes, as this one is. Give me a meaty, chronological narrative any time. But, in this case, I came to like the double timeline and the brief sketches of key moments, because the book is so beautifully written.

In this novel, Clinch tells the life story of Ulysses Grant, Civil War general and the eighteenth president of the United States. We think of Grant as a tough guy because he was famously so willing to throw bodies into a battle and spill blood for the sake of victory. But Clinch presents Grant as a very sympathetic character, first by showing him as a young man carefully crafting a coffin for his fiancée Julia’s beloved pet bird.

We see him, after West Point and the Mexican War, newly discharged from the Army and newly married. He works a border-state farm owned by his slaveholding father-in-law, and does what he can to make the lives of the enslaved people more comfortable. He goes to war and wins great victories at great cost. He reaches the peak of power and travels the world. He loses his fortune. Through it all, his main concerns are for his beloved Julia, for the others he loves, and to do right be everyone he encounters.

The story unfolds on a dual timeline. In the long timeline, we watch Grant develop over the course of his adult lifetime. In the short one, we watch him dying of throat cancer over forty days and nights, while frantically working to complete his memoirs. The family has fallen on hard times, and Grant hopes that the sale of the memoirs will support them after his death. As he dies, he has dreams that give new meaning to some of the events of his life.

When I say “beautifully written,” I must quote a section of the book that describes the river of my own lifelong home, the Ohio. “The Ohio River is a mirror. Nothing moves upon it. Neither light nor air disturbs it. No cloud shadow passes over it and no current ruffles its surface. No leaping fish or diving bird pierces the membrane by which it defines itself…Time has ceased to run upon it.” Clinch uses only simple words, but he perfectly describes one of the moods of my beloved river.

And here’s another quote that feels apt for our own times: “Perhaps he is both a calculating, heartless, vengeful brute and the possessor of a heart of gold. In so contradictory a man would lie either great humanity or great wickedness. So it is with a divided nation.”

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[Erin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Four stars for the story but bumped to five stars for the author’s writing style and amazing vocabulary . . . I learned six or eight new words!

[Paige Wilmer · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is not a book about the General and Julia. This is a book about The Very Good and Noble Ulysses S. Grant and all the Very Good and Noble deeds that he does. Julia hardly appears. And when she does (besides the very end), it is often as a tool to show how very GOOD AND NOBLE Grant is, rather than give insight to their relationship. It's not that I think Grant is a bad man, it's just that no one is *this* good. It reads just the same as a Southerner obsessed with Robert E. Lee who praises only his virtues. We're given one negative trait of Grant's through the book, and it's that he is just *too trusting*.

I should temper my critique a bit, because the subject matter is really interesting, Grant is interesting, and the last few chapters and pages are beautifully written. I think a book that is actually about Grant & Julia, or even about Grant & Harrison Terrell (his man-servant), would be fascinating. I wish that this was that book.

[Jeffrey · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed this ARC from Atria Books. It is well written. I feel like I was able to really learn exactly who this man was. He was revered by many people from both sides of the war and from people of all walks of life as well as people from around the world. His great accomplishments as well as his weakness are fully displayed. His weakness being his trust in people. But is that a weakness of his or more of a misjudging of people. Look at me, I’m making excuses for him because he seemed like such a good guy. The relationship he had with Julia shows how he was the same man at home as he appeared to be to the world. A good man making this a good read!

[Roxy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This intriguing historical fiction novel provides a more personal look into General Grant's life personal life and his relationship with his family.

It is extremely well written and historically accurate while taking some liberties to engage the reader. It follows Grant through his trials and tribulations, through his early days to his final breath.

It was informative of personal relationships that are often overlooked and celebrated his legacy as a husband, general, patriot, president, and author.

[Philip · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good solid historical fiction about the life of Ulysses Grant. Traveling back and forth in time from his days as a General to his life after the Presidency to his final days finishing his memoirs.

[Emily Peterson · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn’t love this book. I wanted to love it, but didn’t.

[Tanya · Rating 3 out of 5]

Why is Julia even in the title when it’s scarcely about her at all?

[Stephanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

John Clinch delivers an immersive portrait of Ulysses S. Grant, the savior of the Union and a twice-elected President. Clinch presents Grant in moving snapshots that span his life and reveal a thoughtful man of deep integrity who spurns the limelight and is devoted to his wife, Julia, and their four children. Clinch glosses over Grant’s triumph in battle and his presidency, focusing instead on Grant’s interior life. We meet Grant as a young soldier in 1843 as he courts Julia Dent whose father owns a rich tract of Missouri farmland maintained by “the ceaseless toil” of thirty-six slaves. It is Grant’s future father-in-law who informs his understanding of how tied the men in the Confederacy were to a practice that many of their countrymen found intolerable: “How disastrous the loss of compelled labor would be to him and to his possessions and to his very way of life.” After he quit the army, Grant worked the property that he and Julia purchased that they called “Hardscrabble” and Grant peddled firewood to stay afloat, having to put gifts for his young family on lay-away. Despite living in Missouri for several years, “to a young man raised in Ohio according to his father’s abolitionist principles, [slavery] is a puzzle at best and an error in management at worst.”

Clinch dedicates several chapters to vignettes of Grant’s military career, including his meeting with Alexander Stephens, the vice president of the Confederacy who found it hypocritical that Julia Grant traveled with a slave, Jules, who was Julia’s father’s “property” and who tended to the Grant children (until she ultimately ran off shortly after Emancipation). Another portrait focuses on a tailor in Richmond who was charged with preparing a uniform for General Lee which signaled to the tailor that “Lee is fixing to make fast a Confederate victory, and he means to look the part on the occasion of Grant’s surrender.” It is Lee, however, who surrendered at Appomattox and the tailor’s bill goes unpaid and unacknowledged. In later years, Grant wrestled with whether he was too forgiving of Lee, but he resolved that it was appropriate that he forgave the confederate soldiers without condition.

When Grant was persuaded to run for President, he was required to surrender his commission and his claim to a pension. After his term, he enjoyed some financial prosperity until a Gilded Age Bernie Madoff, who traded on Grant’s celebrity, fleeced Grant, his family members, and his friends, altering the trajectory of his life: “It made his younger self — boy and man, farmer and soldier, general and president — into a person who would one day lose everything — wealth, reputation, health, self-respect.”His precarious financial condition caused Grant to pen his memoirs despite the fact that he was barely able to walk and debilitated by throat cancer (his cigar habit is explained in another chapter of the novel) as his family had two possible destinies — “comfort if he succeeds in his work, woe if he fails.”

Clinch has masterfully succeeded in creating an emotional study of Ulysses S. Grant in 21 gripping chapters that focus on crucial moments of his life but do not get mired in battle scenes or politics. Clinch has crafted a moving and empathetic portrait of a towering American hero. This is historical fiction at its best. Thank you Atria and Net Galley for providing me with an advanced copy of a book that I will highly recommend.

[Rolando Chavez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jon Clinch gives the reader a view of Ulysses S. Grant's life filled with empathy and intrigue, along with the influence that the people closest to Grant had on him near the end of his life. But to see the love and support that Julia gave her husband the entirety of their life together is truly inspiring.

[LAErin · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars … a terrific read

[Mai H.]

📱 Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books

[Mena · Rating 3 out of 5]

i don’t know that dementia would really give ulysses s. grant immediate empathy for formerly enslaved people…. but this was startlingly well-written and thoughtful

[Lori · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fabulous from start to finish. So well written and lovely. I didn’t know much about Ulysses Grant. This book makes me want to read even more about him. Fascinating.