Imposter

Ulysses S. Grant, broke as he was dying of throat cancer, managed to finish his memoirs just before his death to provide money for his widow, Julia, to survive on. In his novel Grant Speaks (2000), Ev Ehrlich imagines Grant living long enough to write two memoirs, one of which told the truth and was kept hidden for more than a century.

The novel is that hidden version, which for the most part follows the authorized version. Most of the characters and most of the incidents are historically accurate, even if conversations are imagined or embellished. Ehrlich strays from history by imagining not one Ulysses Grant but two and not one Julia but two.

Grant's original first name was Hiram. In his hometown there is a dominating upperclass boy named Ulysses Grant, often called Useful Grant. Hiram is called Useless Grant. The first Julia is Hiram's high school sweetheart, whom Useful seduces (or rapes?) with Useless as a witness. Useful wins an appointment to West Point, then loses his memory in an accident. Hiram's father convinces him to steal the other's identity and go to West Point in his place.

From there the author mostly follows history. The new Ulysses S. Grant becomes a capable soldier, fighting in Mexico with Robert E. Lee and other officers he would later fight with and against in a much bigger war. He meets and falls in love with the second Julia, the daughter of a slave owner.

Grant proves his greatness as a soldier in the Civil War, yet he proves hapless at everything else he tries before the war and even as president of the United States and in business after the war. And he keeps encountering Useful Grant, even though the other man doesn't recognize him. And by the end of the story, he again encounters the other Julia.

Ehrlich weaves a masterful novel out of truth and invention, causing both Grant and readers to wonder who actually won the Civil War.