She Would Be King is a fictional retelling, heavy on the magical realism, of the formation of the country of Liberia. Liberia is a country on the West Coast of Africa that was colonized by an organization known as the American Colonization Society for the express purpose of resettling the growing number of free blacks in the United States on the continent of Africa. Moore’s story focuses on three central characters—Gbessa, June Dey, and Norman— all with supernatural abilities whose paths cross at a pivotal time in the nation’s history.