You might already know what a nazar looks like. Maybe you have seen one and didn’t even know it. A few years back, everyone from Gigi Hadid to Kim Kardashian and Megan Markle were photographed with nazar-themed jewelry and footwear. Maybe I was late to the nazar game.

Nazar icons have traditionally been associated with Middle Eastern and Mediterranean cultures. This video features Turkish fishermen adorning their boats with Nazar talismans for protection. When I was writing this book, I happened upon a boutique that specializes in imported Turkish jewelry in downtown Palm Springs, California. They had dozens of nazar designs on bracelets, keychains, necklaces, and other items. You might’ve noticed that a nazar is the icon image for this website.

The nazar pendant in A Band Hand is on a keychain and reminds characters of two forces in their favor: 1) They aren’t alone, 2) That God will “re-build” them. The Old Testament prophet Isaiah, who lived some 1,800 years after the ancient patriarchs (Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, also known as Israel) expounded on the promises God had made to these patriarchs:

“Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed,” says the Lord, who has compassion on you. “Afflicted city, lashed by storms and not comforted, I will rebuild you with stones of turquoise, your foundations with lapis lazuli…” (Found in Isaiah chapter 54, verse 11)