Perry Fox Novel Imagines Grandfather as Lincoln's Double

Author Perry Fox has turned his family’s cherished lore into a gripping new novel, Lincoln's Double: Friend or Foe. The book imagines the life of his grandfather, Franklin James Benjamin Fox—known as FJB—a 6'5" Second Lieutenant from Madison, Florida, who bore a striking resemblance to Abraham Lincoln. While the plot of a kidnapped president and a secret double is fiction, it is grounded in FJB’s real experiences: he fought in the Virginia Peninsula, was wounded in action, served in the artillery, and was captured in 1865, spending months in the notorious Camp Chase prison in Ohio. In the novel, Frank Fox is plucked from the Confederate ranks, trained to impersonate President Lincoln, and forced into an impossible choice after a failed kidnapping plot. His journey from Confederate soldier to Lincoln’s secret body double explores how war can transform beliefs and forge unexpected bonds.

Perry Fox explains that the story began with his father, Barney, telling him about his own father. “The image of my grandfather, tall, like Lincoln, and deeply dedicated to his family and faith, stayed with me,” Fox says. “I wanted to honor his memory and the experiences of so many soldiers by placing him in a story that captures the moral complexity and human drama of the Civil War.” The novel is a heartfelt tribute to a grandfather the author never met, but whose legacy of faith, persistence, and honor lives on in its pages. Review copies, interviews, and media requests are available by contacting the author directly.