In the long hot summer of 1847, the pregnant slave Dessa Rose sits in a white man's cellar, waiting for her child to be born so that she can be hanged. A world away, in the unfinished mansion of her run-down plantation, the ex-debutante Miss Rufel, abandoned by husband and family, also waits - a prisoner of a different kind. It is to Miss Rufel's farm that Dessa is brought by the runaways who rescue her - and it is there that, out of hatred and suspicion, an unforgettable friendship is forged.
Read More
In the long hot summer of 1847, the pregnant slave Dessa Rose sits in a white man's cellar, waiting for her child to be born so that she can be hanged. A world away, in the unfinished mansion of her run-down plantation, the ex-debutante Miss Rufel, abandoned by husband and family, also waits - a prisoner of a different kind. It is to Miss Rufel's farm that Dessa is brought by the runaways who rescue her - and it is there that, out of hatred and suspicion, an unforgettable friendship is forged.
Read Less
Dessa Rose is an awesome novel that speaks to the feminst/womanist inside of every women sensitive to and or suffering from gender violence. Yet in the midst of savery, imprisonment, pregancy, and homelessness, Dessa Rose triumphs, and is able to transcend her circumstances and release a powerful sense of love, dignity and the ability to not only survive but love herself, Kaine, her community, her god, and the ability to rise above her circumstanced. Moreover, Dessa Rose, as an authentic model of true feminism, and womanism in the face of adverstiy. Dessa Rose stands in soladarity with Ruth, a white women who in many ways is privildege, but at the same time suffers from the throes of domestic violence, and misogny. Depite slavery's posture to draw clear color lines Dessa Rose, and Ruth find common ground, and offer each other mutual respect, love and support. This novel is a testiment to women of color and white women around the world to join their voices and forces together in the fight against misogny, and all forms of violence agaisnt women..