The emergence of what Bernard Bell calls “neoslave narratives “is mainly a post-sixties phenomenon, of which the novels by Margaret Walker, Ernest Gaines, references in her work.1 Her novel Dessa Rose provides a unique example of intertextuality, for it dialogically engages not only Williams's own previous. Dessa Rose book. Read 79 reviews from the world's largest community for readers. “Having this treasure of a book available again for new and more readers Sherley A. Williams' highly acclaimed historical novel details two women's fierce strength of will and an unlikely bond despite racial barriers in the As McDowell notes, the novel stages the oppositions of "slavery and freedom, orality and literacy, fact and fiction [] in an untidy network of social andSherley A. Williams' highly acclaimed historical novel details two women's fierce strength of will and an unlikely bond despite racial barriers in the In the process, it examines the relationship between the novel's two Black and White heroines, Dessa Rose and Ruth Sutton respectively, through the lens of