The Prince’s Psalm
The Prince’s Psalm is, simply put, the story of the biblical David, who slew Goliath; and Jonathan, eldest son of King Saul. But this novel is so much more than that. It is the story of David’s early life in Bethlehem. We see his formative years, that he was the favored youngest child of a large family, the one who could do no wrong and who seemed to be blessed with all the gifts. His first love of his youth, Micah, was a sweet and painful episode and paved the way for his eventual fateful meeting with Jonathan.
The story begins with David taking the field in opposition to Goliath. Naturally, everyone thinks he’s going to get slaughtered, and we get varying perspectives on that theme. The story moves backwards in time from there to David’s childhood, alternating times from his youth to the fight with Goliath until he kills the giant, at which point the narrative moves forward, about halfway through the book.
In this beautiful novel, Quinn captures the entire spectrum of human emotion with sensitivity and truly gorgeous prose. There isn’t enough room to list the many examples of his vivid writing. I liked that the book was sexy without being dirty. I would easily be able to recommend this as a good starting place for anyone wanting to diversify their reading, as this is an M/M romance. I also wish this was the version of the Bible story I’d been taught when I had to go to Sunday school. It was beautiful, tolerant, and loving, and we would all be a lot better off if this is what we were taught from infancy. Love is love.
