Customer Reviews

Sally Hemings: A Novel

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When I was a young adolescent, my Illini-Germanic American and immigrant family and I went to Monticello. I inquired as to why there was a "trap door" into Jefferson's bedroom and was told that Mr. Jefferson used the space above his bedroom to store clothing, etc. I didn't believe it, Thanks be to God! Many years later, I learned of this book while living in Durham, NC. I found a copy in a used bookstore and read it and realized that my adolescent suspicions were grounded in hidden truths! Barbara Chase-Riboud charaturization of the Life of Jefferson is NOW something that the tour guides of Monticellio do reference. (Wonders never Cease!) The recent DNA studies and the fact that the some of the members of Thomas Jefferson's family have acknowledged the Hemmings as their Family members will no doubt bring this "long forgotten" historical-"fiction" novel into it's own. Hopefully, the re-publication of the work will benifit the Great-great-grand children of Sally Hemmings and will likewise recognize the other works of Barbara Chase-Riboud as well as other "Afro-American" Female writers who dared/dare to record American History NOT as "An American Controversy" but as This United State s of American History. Sally Hemmings is clearly in this work a Beacon of Light for the WOMEN of this Nation as Rosa Parks was/is. WOMEN of this Nation who dare to explore "where they came from" and "where their Strength" lies Embodied" will find in Sally Hemmings, as she speaks today from Barbara's novel, a Woman who lives more fully than she could enjoy herself when she was alive: in the world she was birthed into, she was not recognized as a Woman. Sally Hemmings today cannot escape the attention of any man or woman of Integrity. Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemmings are NOT "An American Contoversery". Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemmings are, for those of us of Integrity, Founders of THIS Unitied States of America -- now fighting against the "ethnic cleansing" elsewhere!

Barbara Chase-Riboud did an amazing job with creating fiction using true historical documentation. It was a compelling and informational read. One of my friends recommended it, and I am glad she did. If you want to read about Sally Hemings and get as close to an accurate information, this is probably as close as you can get. The quotes from Jefferson's writings and other documents connect this story like nothing else I have read. Definitely a must for history buffs.

I always vaguely admired Thomas Jefferson and knew that he was an interesting sort of man and quite the genius. However, I was completely surprised and interested to read about his relationship with Sally Hemings. I couldn't put this book down and I resolved to read more about Sally Hemings. How sickening and dreadful we "humans" have treated each other and still treat each other! How could Jefferson had slaves? (How could anyone?)

I think that this sort of book should be required reading in high schools and colleges instead of some of the deadly boring books assigned in Lit classes. Most people don't think about and don't know how people of color and how women have been so ignored, disrespected and hidden in American history.

SALLY HEMINGS is a novel, but this story tells the sad truth of slaves and women. I'd recommend it for men and women... It's a good read and it's thought-provoking... There are women in parts of the world in similar circumstance right now and we are oblivious to their situations. Hopefully, their stories won't stay buried as the story of SALLY HEMINGS has been.

Good book. I really recommend it.

I was a guide at Thomas Jefferson's Monticello when the DNA evidence linking Jefferson to Hemings exploded in the mid-1990s, and know how affected many were by the mere thought of this relationship being real. The reverberations are still being felt a full decade-plus later.

Barbara Chase-Riboud published this novel a full 15 years before the Jefferson-Hemings relationship was all but confirmed (despite the protestations of a still vocal minority), and what better way to contextualize something about which we know so little than with a work of fiction? With actual evidence to contradict her being quite scarce, Chase-Riboud is able to turn the tale into a detailed, dramatic story. It really doesn't matter who the main protagonists happen to be. I am reminded of Michael Shaara's "The Killer Angels", in which the author used very well known situations and "characters" (Lee, Chamberlain) to create tense, gripping scenes that undoubtedly did not occur exactly as written.

It's not a work of history, and regardless of your opinion re: whether Jefferson did or didn't you'll find yourself turning page after page.

Barbara Chase-Riboud does a miraculous job writing her novel Sally Hemings. Not only does she give the reader a clear view of the effects that slavery placed upon African Americans, the novel was written using Sally Hemings as the speaker. It gives an insight to the way that slaves did feel when they were owned by white masters. This book was exciting to engage upon and from chapter to chapter more information about Thomas Jefferson and his personal side and emotions were shown unlike in other biographies.Jefferson was forced to deal with the pain of death in his family with his wife and some of their children who died at a young age. When the book shared the comfort and tenderness that Sally Hemings had for this man it was remarkable to read about and the author put this into words, which really helped the reader visualize the situation. This book gave useful information about slave life in Virginia and the free life in Paris, yet helped the reader to actually see that relationships between two people can be inevitable and we notice that Sally Hemings was questioning herself throughout the book to see if she truly wanted her freedom from her lover Thomas Jefferson.The words that were spoken to Sally from her brother, Mother, Martha and the other characters in this novel prove that she was a strong willed woman, who was not only beautiful physically, but on the inside as well. This book was recommended to me and i am very glad that i had the opportunity to read it.

The story of Sally Hemings, slave mistress to Thomas Jefferson, could easily become a sensationalistic botch for a novelist with unskilled hands.
Chase-Riboud writes with such delicacy of feeling, with a fine flair for historical setting, that makes for a strong story. If you want to get a sense of Sally Hemmings, her life, and her surroundings, you might want to skip a history book and start with this excellent novel.

as to whether or not Thomas Jefferson fathered children on Sally Hemings, half-sister to his deceased wife (and by all accounts, who bore a striking resemblance to her). I tend to think so although there is currently a dispute raging over whether or not the DNA evidence was accurately tested/handled or if it actually proved that the Woodson & Hemings descendants are actually related to Thomas Jefferson's descendants. Ms. Chase-Riboud's meticulous research and a feel for history make it a FASCINATING read ~~ I had never before seen Jefferson's enigmatic character so fully fleshed out and captured on paper before.. The contradiction that is Thomas Jefferson will break your heart -- how he [later] wanted freedom for all slaves in America but would not acknowledge his own second, 'black' family. The narrative is told by Sally herself, which is an interesting insight into the social pressures of the times, slave culture, the prevailing political atmosphere, and things in slave-holding society that EVERYONE knew about (but no one talked about - i.e., rape or sexual coercion of female black slaves and abuses suffered by slaves at the hands of their owners and overseers), during Jefferson's span of Ambassador to the Court of France through Madison Heming's relating the true story of his parentage to a government census taker. If you saw the TV movie with Sam Neill & Carmen Ejogo & think you know the story -- think again. The movie was a pale imitation (although it needed to be seen, and was overdue at that). Read this book instead. Also, the sequel to 'Sally Hemings', 'The President's Daughter' is another can't-put-it-down tale of Harriet Hemings, the fictional (?) daughter of Sally and America's third president and her story of "passing for white" in Civil War-era America.

Historians may scoff, but to (mis)quote the words of another President, Bill Clinton, I believe Thomas Jefferson DID have sexual relations with that woman [Sally Hemings], what I don't understand why is this particular truth so hard to accept, several generations later?

It is one the most beautifully written novels I have ever read. A tale of a forbidden love that not even chains of bondage could contain. It is certainly a modern classic that I will cherish for as long as I live.

I enjoyed this book immensely and proceeded to pick up the sequel, The President's Daughter. I think the author did a great job of creating in the reader, the emotions Sally must have felt.

Thomas Jefferson was a good man, just seemingly selfish and scared of losing the woman he loved. I learned historical facts that introduced in this fashion, will hopefully stick!

Barbara Chase-Riboud did an excellant job of writing this book. She creatively writes about the life she presumes Sally Hemings had and the love that she might have shared with Thomas Jefferson. Sally is the narrator of the book and it is mostly about her memories in Paris, at Monticello, and after Thomas Jefferson's death. The reason this book is so good is because Chase-Riboud did a masterfully job of making Sally's memories come alive and seem almost real. Chase-Riboud wrote about what we know really happened during Sally Hemings's life and she creatively filled in the rest with situations that Sally might have faced and might have been put in. From Sally's first memory to her last, this book will keep you intrigued and you won't want to put it down. I recommend this book highly and for everyone.