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Award-winning Colombian author Laura Restrepo weaves contemporary themes and ancient myth in this story of star-crossed lovers in a world on the brink of collapse.
Retelling the mythical love story between the Queen of Sheba and King Solomon in the refugee camps of the present day, Song of Ancient Lovers is a sublime ode to love and desire as forces shaping human history, with power that rivals forces of destruction.
Ethereal in its weaving of the real and the mythical, the contemporary and the ancient, this is the story of Bos Mutas, a young writer traveling from South America to northern Africa in search of traces of his obsession. His research unveils the Queen of Sheba as unyielding and committed to her independence, with remarkable influence both in her time—over Solomon and all the subjects in her expansive kingdom—and on thinkers and artists across the centuries, from Thomas Aquinas to Gérard de Nerval, Frida Kahlo to Patti Smith. He also finds traces of her influence in the magic made of devastating circumstances by women he meets on his journey, especially Zahra Bayda, a Somali midwife who has taken it upon herself to show him around.
Stunning and evocative, Song of Ancient Lovers is a triumph of imagination and reverence for the spirit that connects us across boundaries of time and geography.
"Restrepo conveys the queen's mythology in powerful prose...[A]n undeniable ode to an inspiring figure." —Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"By meshing the past with the present, Restrepo traces the deep roots of Middle Eastern beauty and brutality. Laced with quotes, its exalted language sumptuously translated, this is a mystical, many-faceted, and profoundly affecting homage to the power of women." —Booklist (starred review)
"Restrepo's gift for description and worldbuilding is impressive, as is her astonishing breadth of allusions ranging from Patti Smith to Thomas Aquinas." —Kirkus Reviews
This information about Song of Ancient Lovers was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Photo: Carlos Duque
Laura Restrepo is the bestselling author of six novels, including The Dark Bride, A Tale of the Dispossessed, and Delirio, which received Spain's prestigious Alfaguara Prize. She lives in Colombia.
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