no•vel•la: a work of fiction intermediate in length and complexity between a short story and a novel (Miriam Webster Dictionary). This is in the Bible? Imagine the oddest of odd couples. First there is the great lover King–a royal of great substance and glory who for some unknown reason has fallen totally head-over-heels in love with a beat-up, used and abused woman from way across the tracks. She is not a royal courtier by any standards–if the truth were known, she would be on the very low end of the societal food chain. What identity and social worth she might have had innately–she has either given away or it was stolen from her. Certainly she is not a worthy object of the love of a King. The dramatic tension in the novella is obvious. The Queen’s uncomfortable heart must swing wildly from two extremes. On the one hand, there is the stunning wonderful shock that she is–at least for a moment–in an unbelievable and totally unexpected intimate relationship with the Great King. Truly, this is far beyond her wildest dreams and hopes. But on the other hand, she must deal with the nagging almost ever-present fear that she will eventually wake up from this absurd dream. The King will certainly at some point open his eyes and see her for who she really is. What she sees in her mirror is not a Queen. The biblical Songs of Songs of Solomon is a very complex brilliantly edited collection of ancient Hebrew love poetry–but unfortunately for modern readers it is quite difficult to read and translate without a strong handle on the ancient Hebrew language, metaphors and imagery. The authors have composed this novella with the hopes of making the ancient poetry very accessible to the modern novel reader. This is not a literal translation. Rather it is a story about the actual text–consistent with the heart and purpose of the book. For the reader who would desire to go deeper, an interpretive translation (with exegetical notes) has been included. This is a companion text to “The Kiss of God” (www.thekissofgod.com) by the same authors.