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AMERICAN
SAINT
A Novel
“American Saint is a slow burn that explores the human capacity to believe the unbelievable, our impulse to embrace mystery. Are we rational beings, or do we simply believe whatever suits our world view? A relevant novel for our times and one that lingers long in the mind.”
ANNE CHARNOCK, Arthur C. Clarke Award-winning author of Dreams Before the Start of Time
A MAN. A MYTH. A MARTYR.
After his miracles go viral, one man’s crisis of faith puts everything in doubt, erasing the lines between memory, reality, and truth.
Raised in a poor neighborhood in Albuquerque by his mother and curandera grandmother, Gabriel Romero grows up fervently religious, privately confl icted, and consumed by what he’s certain is the true will of God. A radical activist determined to enlighten the consciousness of a country losing its way, Gabriel starts his own church. His slogans go viral. His protests make him either a hero or an anarchist in a polarized America, and his miracles—if we believe what we see—cast him as either a charlatan or a saint. But Gabriel knows that, above all, to ensure lasting faith he must do something truly memorable. For that, he will see his divine mission to its startling end.
In this visionary novel framed as a hagiography, the ruminative, subjective memories of Gabriel’s witnesses—spiritual, familial, romantic, and political— converge to make sense of the man’s confounding works and message. As they do, a surprising portrait develops . . . not only of the deepening mystery of Gabriel Romero himself but also of a country in conflict and the faith it takes to fight the suspicion and fear that divide us.
A DIGITAL GENIUS. HIS SHATTERED FAMILY. A BROKEN FUTURE.
The America of 2037 is a country distracted by, infatuated with, and addicted to Arcadia. The brainchild of reclusive genius Juan Diego Reyes, Arcadia is a wickedly immersive, all-encompassing social-media platform and virtual-reality interface. Although Arcadia has made the Reyes family fabulously wealthy, it’s left them—and the rest of the country—impoverished of that rare currency: intimacy. When Juan Diego mysteriously vanishes, the consequences shatter the lives of the entire Reyes clan.
As matriarch Autumn struggles to hold the family together, siblings Gideon, Holly, and Devon wrestle with questions of purpose and meaning—seeking self-worth in a world where everything has been cheapened. Outside the artificial safety of Arcadia, America has crumbled into an unrecognizable nation where a fundamentalist ex-preacher occupies the Oval Office, megacorporations blithely exploit their full citizenship, and a twenty-foot-high Great Wall of Freedom plastered with lucrative advertising bestrides the US-Mexican border.
In a polarized society now cripplingly hooked on manufactured highs, the Reyes family must overcome the seduction of simulation to find the kind of authentic human connection that offers salvation for all.
About SEAN GANDERT
Sean Gandert was born and raised in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He received his undergraduate degree from Yale University and an MFA in creative writing from Bennington College. A freelance writer and college English instructor, Sean currently resides in Florida with his partner and their increasingly large pride of cats.
