She Would Be King
Wayétu Moore weaves magic into the history of Liberia's founding. Gbessa, exiled from her village and cursed, discovers she cannot die. June Dey, born on a Virginia plantation, has impossible strength. Norman Aragon, the son of a colonizer and an enslaved woman, can vanish. Their paths cross in the settlement that will become Liberia, where freed people from America and native West Africans collide, and the three use their gifts to protect the fragile new country. The novel blends historical fiction and folklore into an origin story narrated, in part, by the wind. It was a Sarah Jessica Parker ALA Book Club Central pick.
What you might want to know about She Would Be King
The questions readers send us most often, answered without spoilers.
A reimagining of Liberia's founding in which three people with supernatural gifts are drawn together to help shape and defend the new nation.
It is both. The novel reimagines the founding of Liberia as historical fiction laced with magical realism and folklore.
Yes. Sarah Jessica Parker selected it as an ALA Book Club Central pick in 2019.
She Would Be King was written by Wayétu Moore, published in 2018 by Graywolf Press.
She Would Be King is 320 pages in standard print editions, though page counts vary slightly between hardcover, paperback, and large-print formats.
At an average reading pace of about 250 words per minute, She Would Be King takes most readers 5 to 7 hours to finish.
She Would Be King is available in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats from Amazon, Bookshop.org, ThriftBooks, and most major bookstores.
