Heralded historical fiction master Jon Clinch --- whose books include MARLEY and FINN --- profiles yet another lauded American figure in THE GENERAL AND JULIA, a sweeping, monumental portrait of Ulysses S. Grant.

Whether you know Grant as the man on the $50 bill or the victor in the Civil War, you no doubt have rarely considered his life outside the war or the Oval Office. Clinch remedies this oversight with a fictionalized yet heavily researched exploration into the life of the American giant, both in and out of the public eye.

It has taken a modified railroad car on loan from a Vanderbilt, a private narrow-gauge train, and the strength of two men at the handles of an oversized three-wheeled perambulator, but Grant at last has reached the site of his final rest in a cabin in the Adirondacks. No longer an army general or a United States president, Grant is dying of a particularly ugly cancer metastasizing in his throat. The swift approach of death has him reflecting on his life, at times nearly transported to the past, so vivid are his recollections.

"Paired with Clinch’s elegant, assured prose, the result is dazzlingly good, evocatively crafted and emotionally resonant. Perfect for lovers of American history and historical fiction fans alike, THE GENERAL AND JULIA is yet another fine addition to the genre from a writer who gets better with each book."

But Grant’s review of his life is not only a personal one. He is dead set on completing his memoirs so that his family --- his wife, Julia; his four children; and his grandchildren --- who will no longer receive the charitable donations that have found their way to his deathbed will be able not just to eat and pay their bills after he passes away, but to take pride in his legacy. His friend, the writer Samuel Clemens, has secured him a hefty advance, promising that both his family and his reputation will be protected long after his death.

Beginning on the farmland of White Haven in Missouri, owned by the incorrigible, deeply critical Colonel Frederick Dent, Clinch introduces us to a young Grant, a recent West Point graduate who is visiting his classmate’s family on their farm. However, he has an ulterior motive for being there: gaining access to his classmate’s sister, Julia (Colonel Dent's daughter), who he hopes to make his wife. Grant already is distinguishable by his fair treatment of slaves and hired help, and he makes it clear that he sees no value in the cruel ownership of humans, regardless of their skin color. Although he butts heads with Colonel Dent over this perspective, he eventually marries Julia and constructs a cabin for them on his father-in-law's property, the aptly named Hardscrabble, where they will begin their life together as a couple.

In the coming years, unrest over the topic of slavery grows, and the nation enters a civil war in which Grant swiftly rises to the role of general for the Union. He continues to treat all men equally, but even so, he remains unmoved by the topic of abolition and is far more focused on the goal of reuniting his beloved country. It is only after yet another vitriolic conversation with his hateful father-in-law that Grant chooses fully the side of abolition, though not for the reasons you may expect from the man who effectively won the Civil War. His interest in siding with abolitionists is not moral but tactical. A fine planner with a keen understanding of democracy and the economy, he sees that without slavery, the South will crumble and will be effectively forced back into a reunion with the rest of the country.

But as the war ends and Black men and women are freed, Grant sees that he was too lenient with his beliefs, too trusting that the slave owners of the South would not just comply with the North but absorb their morals as well. He starts to lament how he treated Robert E. Lee at his surrender, whom he famously let go without so much as a trial. It is this and other similar woes that plague Grant at the end of his life, but it is also his changing opinions throughout a life lived through war, prosperity and tragedy that make this portrait so affecting and convincing. In presenting Grant exactly as he was --- flawed, shortsighted and occasionally flat-out wrong --- Clinch proves that he was as heroic as promised, but also as contradictory as any regular human who is not heralded as a titan of history.

Paired with Clinch’s elegant, assured prose, the result is dazzlingly good, evocatively crafted and emotionally resonant. Perfect for lovers of American history and historical fiction fans alike, THE GENERAL AND JULIA is yet another fine addition to the genre from a writer who gets better with each book. I cannot wait to see which historical figure Clinch profiles next.