Novels
- Dessa Rose (1986)
Collections
Picture Books
- Working Cotton (1992)
- Girls Together (1999)
Novels Book Covers
Collections Book Covers
Picture Books Book Covers
Sherley Anne Williams Books Overview
Dessa Rose
This acclaimed historical novel is based on two actual incidents: In 1829 in Kentucky, a pregnant black woman helped lead an uprising of a group of slaves headed to the market for sale. She was sentenced to death, but her hanging was delayed until after the birth of her baby. In North Carolina in 1830, a white woman living on an isolated farm was reported to have given sanctuary to runaway slaves. In Dessa Rose, the author asks the question: ‘What if these two women met?’From there the story unfolds: two strong women, one black, one white, form a forbidden and ambivalent alliance; a bold scheme is hatched to win freedom; trust is slowly extended and cautiously accepted as the two women unite and discover greater strength together than alone. United by fate but divided by prejudice, these two women are locked in a thrilling battle for freedom, sisterhood, friendship, and love.
Working Cotton
This child’s view of the long day’s work in the cotton fields, simply expressed in a poet’s resonant language, is a fresh and stirring look at migrant family life. ‘With its restrained poetic text and impressionist paintings, this is a picture book for older readers, too.’ Booklist
Girls Together
Five friends get together one glorious Saturday morning. They want to get away from the Projects, where their mothers will find them something to do, and away from little brothers, who spy on them. These girls could ride bikes. They could collect bottles for the recycler to get money for the movies. But they decide to go climb trees, and off they go Hey, hey! linking arms.
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