The Saints of Banias

• Main Author: McCauley, Jennifer Maritza
• Format: Others
• Published: FIU Digital Commons 2014
• Subjects: Fiction
• Online Access: http://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd/1660; http://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2788&context=etd

THE SAINTS OF BANIAS is a novel set in a fictional slavetown during the Reconstruction Era. The work seeks to blend myth, magic, and history to create a world that is both believable and otherworldly. The novel follows Beah, an ex-slave girl travelling to the town of Banias in hopes of finding her mother; Prophet Moon, an itinerant vision-seer who offers to help Beah with her goal; and the founder of the town, Claude Banias, who struggles to protect Banias from bloodthirsty radicals. As the characters’ lives intertwine, they face more challenges and secrets. THE SAINTS OF BANIAS is loosely based on the biblical story of David and Bathsheba, with Claude acting as David, Beah as Bathsheba, and Prophet Moon as a hybrid of Nathan and Uriah. The novel primarily explores destructive love, the value of hope, and the price of preserving a culture.