William Smither

Backroads to 'Bethlehem' William Smither

It is 1693, during the waning days of a militaristic, fugitive slave village in northeastern Brazil and the widening landscape of Maroon Wars in Jamaica. There exists a patchwork of shared morality and beliefs among the myriad mix of West African tribes and the indigenous peoples of Latin America and the Caribbean.



In Colonial Brazil, the beliefs of various Taino Indian and West African blend, influenced by nearby Jesuit Orders such as the St. Raphael Mission. This contributes to the Maroon cultures interpretations of burial customs and visitations of shadow people or spiritual presences. Later, in Jamaica, as with ancient West African and Ashanti cultures, the silk cotton tree plays an important role in the village of Akrafena and the Casa Cadiz Plantation. From the Nine Night ceremony and beliefs in survival after death to roaming spirits of the dead, the treealso called the Spirit Tree, God Tree, and Devil Treeemits evil spells as well as spiritual inspiration for prevailing forces that drive the various Maroon characters and conflict.



Inspired by actual events, this novel offers a portrait of sustained and conscionable slave rebellion in Colonial Brazil and Jamaica at the cultural crossroads of myth and reality.