Thomas Jefferson Dreams of Sally Hemings
Thomas Jefferson Dreams of Sally Hemings is a 2016 historical fiction novel by American writer Stephen O’Connor. It imagines the relationship between Thomas Jefferson, the third U.S. president, and Sally Hemings, his enslaved companion and sister-in-law. Because Hemings was enslaved, many readers questioned whether she could truly consent, and the book’s romantic portrayal sparked debate.
The story uses several storytelling approaches. It presents scenes from Jefferson’s life in Paris and at Monticello, a memoir Hemings writes after Jefferson’s death, and dreamlike moments in which Jefferson watches a film about his life, Hemings invents something that becomes the world, and the two meet again on a New York City subway after a long time apart.
The author chose the title to reflect the book’s mix of history and imagination. O’Connor says Jefferson is shown as a figure who is powerful but not all-powerful, and the dreamlike and surreal sections are meant to capture the real world’s complexity and the mixed qualities in Jefferson’s character.
Thomas Jefferson Dreams of Sally Hemings was first released in the United States on April 5, 2016, in hardback from Viking. A paperback came out the following year from Penguin Books.
Reception was mixed. Some critics praised O’Connor’s careful research and writing, noting that the relationship between Jefferson and Hemings is uncomfortable but thought-provoking. NPR’s Jean Zimmerman and The Washington Post’s Ron Charles gave favorable reviews. Others criticized the book for portraying a relationship between a slave owner and an enslaved person as something other than rape and for questions about consent, given Hemings’s status as a slave and the age difference (Jefferson in his 40s, Hemings in her teens when the relationship began).
Author notes in the book reveal the author’s evolving view on the topic. He originally assumed the relationship began with rape but later suggested it might lie somewhere between love and Stockholm syndrome, acknowledging the difficulties in telling this story.
Debates about the book include how to interpret Hemings’s autonomy and how to judge the accuracy of such a portrayal. Some critics argued that modern perspectives shouldn’t rewrite history, while others argued that historians have only recently begun to openly discuss the Jefferson–Hemings relationship. There is also discussion about DNA evidence, which shows a Jefferson male fathered Hemings’s children but cannot prove exactly which Jefferson it was.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 12:48 (CET).