Thomas Jefferson Dreams Of Sally Hemings: A Novel
by Stephen O'Connor
Buy on AmazonA historical tale inspired by the decades-long relationship between Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings details their first encounters in late-eighteenth-century Paris and the inconsistent values that shaped their affair.
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"Everyone knows the story — or thinks they do — of Thomas Jefferson and his enslaved paramour, Sally Hemings. Stephen O’Connor gives us a vision of how that relationship began (yes, in sexual assault) and, given the obvious inequities in the relationship, grew into something approaching a meeting of minds. His Sally is sharply astute, and sees Jefferson more clearly than he sees himself. Makes you wonder what their relationship would have been like if they’d met today."
NPR Books We Love — 2016 · apps.npr.org