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  • She Would Be King

  • A Novel
  • Written by: Wayétu Moore
  • Narrated by: Wayétu Moore
  • Length: 9 hrs and 38 mins
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars (42 ratings)

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She Would Be King

Written by: Wayétu Moore
Narrated by: Wayétu Moore
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Publisher's Summary

Sarah Jessica Parker and the American Library Association Book Club Central Official Selection

A novel of exhilarating range, magical realism, and history - a dazzling retelling of Liberia’s formation

Wayétu Moore’s powerful debut novel, She Would Be King, reimagines the dramatic story of Liberia’s early years through three unforgettable characters who share an uncommon bond. Gbessa, exiled from the West African village of Lai, is starved, bitten by a viper, and left for dead, but still she survives. June Dey, raised on a plantation in Virginia, hides his unusual strength until a confrontation with the overseer forces him to flee. Norman Aragon, the child of a white British colonizer and a Maroon slave from Jamaica, can fade from sight when the earth calls him. When the three meet in the settlement of Monrovia, their gifts help them salvage the tense relationship between the African American settlers and the indigenous tribes, as a new nation forms around them.

Moore’s intermingling of history and magical realism finds voice not just in these three characters but also in the fleeting spirit of the wind, who embodies an ancient wisdom. “If she was not a woman,” the wind says of Gbessa, “she would be king.” In this vibrant story of the African diaspora, Moore, a talented storyteller and a daring writer, illuminates with radiant and exacting prose the tumultuous roots of a country inextricably bound to the United States. She Would Be King is a novel of profound depth set against a vast canvas and a transcendent debut from a major new author.

©2018 Wayétu Moore (P)2018 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.
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What the critics say

"[Narrator Wayétu] Moore's soothing, restive, and contemplative tones give listeners a sense of the mystical realm of spirits while allowing us to envision the complex threads of the narrative. Her delivery adds to listeners' desire to see if the three characters will find freedom as their new country seeks to be liberated from the shadow of American influence." (AudioFile)

“Moore skillfully reconsiders the idealism of the early African-American settlers through their interactions with the indigenous peoples and braids together intimate story lines centered around universal themes: falling in love, defying familial expectations and the difficulties of doing the right thing.” (The New York Times)

“An ambitious, genre-hopping, continent-spanning novel.... Moore is a brisk and skilled storyteller who weaves her protagonists' disparate stories together with aplomb yet is also able to render her sprawling cast of characters in ways that feel psychologically compelling. In addition, the novel's various settings - Virginia, Jamaica, and West Africa - are depicted so lushly that readers will find themselves enchanted.” (Kirkus Reviews)

What listeners say about She Would Be King

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Brilliant

I loved every word, it taught me, stirred me, saddened and uplifted me. I'll be listening to this book for the rest of my life.

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2 people found this helpful

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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Very good story.

A story at times sad, happy, and conflicted, but always lyrical and able to hold my attention. I enjoyed the author's narration very much. Recommendable if one enjoys magical realism.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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Beautiful

I found this book a little hard to get into, but I am certainly glad that I persisted. The combination of magic, history, and human struggle was beautiful.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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Freed by magic

I don't know much about Liberia.
This novel seems to be about expectations and realities. When a person is given a bad name by those with power over them, they often grow (or shrink) to meet those expectations.

But sometimes those roles work out in unexpected ways.

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Beautiful. I can't wait to listen again.

I'm going to buy a paper copy too. And copies for my friends. It reminded me of Life of Pi.

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    2 out of 5 stars
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wasn't for me

I was lost right away with most of the characters. Ended up zoning out and struggling to get through the first 2 hrs. wasn't for me.

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3 people found this helpful

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So much wrong

Jamaican character named Nanni, who is a Maroon... she is carried to a white man who wants to study Maroons. He tells her to undress and she undressed 'as quickly as it seemed she could'... she obeys him when he tells her to turn around naked. She lets him study her and use her - with no resistance at all.
After all of this she saves his life... Wtf?

Nanni is the mother of one of the main characters.

So much wrong with this book. I don't even know how to unpack it.

I saw so many good reviews, and I was excited to read this book... Turned to bitter disappointment.

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3 people found this helpful