Thomas Jefferson Dreams of Sally Hemings

The depiction, which portrayed the relationship as consensual and romantic, was the focus of controversy due to questions about Hemings's status as a slave and her age difference with Jefferson.

Per the book jacket, " O’Connor’s protagonists are rendered via scrupulously researched scenes of their lives in Paris and at Monticello that alternate with a harrowing memoir written by Hemings after Jefferson’s death, as well as with dreamlike sequences in which Jefferson watches a movie about his life, Hemings fabricates an "invention" that becomes the whole world, and they run into each other "after an unimaginable length of time" on the New York City subway.

Jean Zimmerman of NPR gave the novel a favorable review, praising O'Connell's research and writing while also noting that the relationship between Jefferson and Hemings made them uncomfortable but that "history's discomforts have their attractions all the same.

But if he portrays Sally as a wholly powerless victim, he denies her ability to negotiate the contradictory forces at work in Jefferson’s delusional paradise.

"[7] Brendan Wolfe of Encyclopedia Virginia was critical of Grady's Vox article, as he felt that they were viewing the novel and Hemings through a modern day perspective.