Dessa Rose

A Novel

By: Sherley Anne Williams

Narrated by: Ruby Dee

In 1829, a pregnant woman is condemned to die for a murderous act of rebellion. Meanwhile, in North Carolina, a woman is accused of giving sanctuary to runaway slaves.

Dessa Rose is the heartwarming story of an extraordinary friendship between two strong, remarkable women from very different backgrounds, both caught in the shadow of slavery in the 19th-century South. One is an escaped Black slave under sentence of death; the other is a white woman committed to end the horrors her neighbors accept as a matter of course. Ruby Dee's passionate and sensitive reading gives a poignant sense of reality to this magnificent story of courage, daring, and love.

©1987 Sherley Anne Williams (P)1987 Phoenix Books, Inc.

she can perform!

the theatrical element made the book move off page and can make the minds eye take over the senses. I want to listen again!

One Star from Perfect

Heartfelt and realistic journey into what it meant to be a slave. Only disappointment was it was too short.

INCREDIBLE

Sherley's language is so sensorial, I feel like I am enveloped in the experience. Her story of Dessa Rose is also so historically meaningful-- because it is simply important to understand the Dynamics involved in the slave trade- experience in our history of the United States. The story itself is gripping, and breathtaking. I was engrossed in the characters; their growth and relationships; and the "What's going to happen??" urgency. Now a favorite book. Greatness.