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Community comment are the opinions of contributing users. These comment do not represent the opinions of Pima County Public Library.
Apr 14, 2015brangwinn rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
In her well-researched fictional accounts of Civil War women, continues to weave the story of relationships between black servants and their white employers/masters. The books need not be ready in order of publishing, but I was glad I read Mrs. Lincoln’s Dressmaker and Mrs. Lincoln’s Rival before I read this account of Ulysses S. Grant’s wife and her slave Jule. I appreciated how she told both the point of view of Mrs. Lincoln and Mrs. Grant in the battlefield visit to Richmond. My admiration for President Lincoln continues to rise as he had so many challenges with his temperamental wife. I thought this book did superb job of showing how white southern women saw their household help as “servants” and not “slaves, and were unable to understand how blacks could be unhappy. As in the other books the story of the maid, Jule, who later escaped slavery and became a successful hairdresser was poignant.