Sally Hemings

I have always been interested in Jefferson as a person, not as much as a President, although that may sound strange. He was conflicted, as evidenced in his stand on slavery, being against it in principle, yet unable to divest himself of the ones he had. The story of Sally's life, as told here, even though a work of fiction, does play on the known facts of her life, & could almost BE biographical in nature. I was glad to see all of the rumors finally put to rest by DNA evidence that revealed that the Hemings clan's descendants ARE in fact related to the great man. I don't understand why there was all the secrecy to begin with, it was no secret that the masters of the plantations & their sons often had slave mistresses that bore their show more children. show less

A harrowing read. Beautifully crafted but difficult and frustrating at times - I was relieved to finish. Jefferson was too unlikeable. I wasn't sure what the point of the census taker story line was besides recording Sally and her sons as white - seemed a bit of a redundant section the further into the book I got.
I don't know much about this period of history so I think I missed quite a bit of context.

A beautiful novel portraying the relationship between Thomas Jefferson and his slave Sally Hemings from her perspective as a love affair, introducing universal themes that make it much more than just a story about the oppressive and contaminating effects of slavery - though it is that, as well.

Longer review at www.HistoricalNovels.info

Fascinating book fictionalizing the romance between Thomas Jefferson and his slave, Sally Hemings. DNA has shown the relationship occurred, but the reality of their love is disputed. It is truly hard to understand the actions of the man who wrote "all men are created equal" and yet held his own sons in slavery!

This was a powerful book. Definately is making me rethinking our founding fathers.

This is the ficional account of the love story between Sally Hemings and Thomas Jefferson. Many of the events in the book did occur. I believe the genealogical information on the Hemmings family is fairly correct. An interesting read if you are a fan of this era.

(Thom. Jefferson's mistress)

One of the greatest love stories in American history is also one of the most controversial. Thomas Jefferson had a mistress for 38 years whom he loved and lived with until he died—the beautiful and elusive Sally Hemings. But it was not simply that Jefferson had a mistress that provoked such a scandal in both his time and ours. It was that Sally Hemings was a quadroon slave and that Jefferson fathered a slave family whose descendants are alive today.