Bringing to life one of the greatest and most controversial love stories, this fictional account reveals the beautiful and elusive Sally Hemings, Thomas Jefferson's mistress for 38 years whom he loved and lived with until he died. Adding to the scandal, she was a quadroon slave and Jefferson fathered a slave family whose descendants are alive today. In this novel, Jefferson and his mistress are fully realized, as are many of the other personages of the early Republic--Aaron Burr, Dolly and James Madison, John and Abigail Adams, and Sally's mother Elizabeth, who was Jefferson's father-in-law's mistress. This brilliant and highly acclaimed novel is a contemporary masterpiece--a poignant, tragic, and unforgettable meditation on the history of race and sex in America.