A Ballad of Love and Glory, Reyna Grande
A Ballad of Love and Glory, Reyna Grande
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A Ballad of Love and Glory

Author: Reyna Grande

Narrator: Yareli Arizmendi, Aidan Kelly

Unabridged: 13 hr 33 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 03/15/2022


Synopsis

2023 International Latino Book Award Winner
Finalist for the Texas Institute of Letters’s Jesse H. Jones Award for Best Fiction

A Long Petal of the Sea meets Cold Mountain in this “epic and exquisitely wrought” (Patricia Engel, New York Times bestselling author) saga following a Mexican army nurse and an Irish soldier who must fight, at first for their survival and then for their love, amidst the atrocity of the Mexican-American War—from the author of The Distance Between Us.

A forgotten war. An unforgettable romance.

The year is 1846. After the controversial annexation of Texas, the US Army marches south to provoke war with México over the disputed Río Grande boundary.

Ximena Salomé is a gifted Mexican healer who dreams of building a family with the man she loves on the coveted land she calls home. But when Texas Rangers storm her ranch and shoot her husband dead, her dreams are burned to ashes. Vowing to honor her husband’s memory and defend her country, Ximena uses her healing skills as a nurse on the frontlines of the ravaging war.

Meanwhile, John Riley, an Irish immigrant in the Yankee army desperate to help his family escape the famine devastating his homeland, is sickened by the unjust war and the unspeakable atrocities against his countrymen by nativist officers. In a bold act of defiance, he swims across the Río Grande and joins the Mexican Army—a desertion punishable by execution. He forms the St. Patrick’s Battalion, a band of Irish soldiers willing to fight to the death for México’s freedom.

When Ximena and John meet, a dangerous attraction blooms between them. As the war intensifies, so does their passion. Swept up by forces with the power to change history, they fight not only for the fate of a nation but for their future together.

“A grand and soulful novel by a storyteller who has hit her full stride” (Julia Alvarez, author of In the Time of the Butterflies), A Ballad of Love and Glory effortlessly illuminates a largely forgotten moment in history that impacts the US–México border to this day.

About Reyna Grande

Reyna Grande is an award-winning author, motivational speaker, and writing teacher. As a young girl, she crossed the US–Mexico border to join her family in Los Angeles, a harrowing journey chronicled in The Distance Between Us, a National Book Critics Circle Award finalist. Her other books include the novels A Ballad of Love and GloryAcross a Hundred Mountains, and Dancing with Butterflies, the memoirs Migrant HeartThe Distance Between Us: Young Readers Edition, and Dream Called Home, and the anthology Somewhere We Are Human: Authentic Voices on MigrationSurvival, and New Beginnings. She lives in Woodland, California, with her husband and two children. Visit ReynaGrande.com for more information.


Reviews

This is definitely a story that needs to be told. Lost or quietly forgotten in American history. Mexico 1846. The war has begun between Mexico and the US over the Rio Grande boundary. Irish immigrants supporting Americans in stealing land from the Mexicans. But, the Americans degraded them; mistreat......more

Goodreads review by Annette

A Ballad of Love and Glory is inspired by actual events and explores the conflicting meanings of courage and loyalty. Gulf of Mexico, 1846. Ximena, for eight months, has been hearing rumors of war between US and Mexico, after the Republic of Texas became the twenty-eighth state in the Union, thus lea......more

Goodreads review by Debra

A forgotten war. An unforgettable romance. 1846 - Mexican American War An Army nurse, An Irish Immigrant. What were the chances that they would meet? Ximena Salomé is a Mexican Healer; John Riley is an Irish immigrant fighting in the Yankee army. Disillusioned with the war and atrocities, he form......more

A Ballad of Love and Glory by Reyna Grande was was a very well researched historical fiction novel about the United States and Mexico’s chilling story of war between 1846-1848. I knew little to nothing about the Mexican- American War before I read this book. This was also the first book I have read......more