She Would Be King
Liberia Jamaica United States

She Would Be King

by Wayétu Moore

Colonialism Historical Fiction Literary Fiction Fantasy 2018

Summary

In the nineteenth century, as Liberia emerges as a new nation, three extraordinary individuals from different parts of the African diaspora find their lives intertwined. Gbessa, a young woman from a West African village, is exiled after being accused of witchcraft. Left to die in the wilderness, she survives a deadly snakebite and discovers she possesses an unusual gift: immortality. June Dey, born into slavery on a plantation in Virginia, has extraordinary physical strength that he struggles to control. Norman Aragon, the son of a British coloniser and a Jamaican Maroon woman, can disappear from sight whenever the earth calls him.

Their journeys eventually bring them to Monrovia, where former enslaved people from America are attempting to establish a new society alongside Liberia's indigenous communities. As tensions rise between settlers, local populations, and European powers, the three must decide how to use their extraordinary abilities to protect their new homeland.

Blending magical realism, African folklore, and historical fiction, She Would Be King reimagines the founding of Liberia through stories of displacement, resistance, identity, and the complicated legacies of colonialism.

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Countries
Liberia
Africa
Jamaica
North America
United States
North America
About the author
Wayétu Moore
Wayétu Moore

Wayétu Moore is a Liberian-American novelist, memoirist, and educator. Born in Liberia, she left the country with her family during the First Liberian Civil War and grew up in the United States. Her experiences of displacement, migration, and cultural identity have strongly influenced her writing. She graduated from Howard University, the University of Southern California, and Columbia University. Her debut novel, She Would Be King (2018), was named one of the year's best books by Publishers Weekly, Booklist, and Entertainment Weekly. Her memoir, The Dragons, the Giant, the Women (2020), recounts her family's experiences of war, migration, and rebuilding their lives. Moore received the 2019 Lannan Literary Fellowship for Fiction and the 2022 William Saroyan International Prize for Writing.

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Details
Published
2018
Author
Wayétu Moore