Cinnamon and cream
describes two young girls, one a slave, the other her mistress. As
children they are playmates, but when they grow up, Jule, a slave,
realizes that she will never have the same opportunities as her
mistress, Julia.
Julia Dent is the
daughter of a Missouri slave holder. She falls in love with Ulysses
S. Grant and vows to follow him so they can always be together. After
the Mexican War, Ulysses leaves the military, and they have hard
times, but as the Civil War approaches, he returns to uniform and
leads the Union troops. Although married to a Union general, Julia
can't give up her belief in slavery. She takes Jule with her whenever
she can, but in spite of their long term relationship, she can never
treat her as an equal.
The lives of Julia
and Ulysses S. Grant are well documented historically and portrayed
accurately. I did feel that too often we were just reading history
without the emotional content of a novel. However, to be true to the
Grant's story the author couldn't go too far from the historical
account.
Little is known
about the real Jule. She was mentioned in a few places in Julia
Grant's papers, but her story is almost completely fiction. I thought
the author did a good job bringing Jule to life. She was in many ways
more real than Julia. The story of the two girls highlights the
problems of slavery. Even slave owners, like Julia, who tried to take
care of their slaves couldn't see them as people with the same needs
they had. Julia found it almost incomprehensible that Jule would want
freedom, the right to marry and have her own family.
I enjoyed this book.
The beginning where we meet the two girls was delightful. The middle
recounts battles and Julia moving around to be with Ulysses and is
somewhat boring unless you're interested in Civil War history. It's
also the portion of the story where we hear little about Jule. The
ending wraps up nicely, so if you get bogged down in the middle, keep
going the ending is worth it.
I reviewed this book
for Dutton.
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