El año es 1846. Después de la controvertida anexión de Texas, el ejército de los EE. UU. marcha hacia el sur para provocar la guerra con México por la disputada frontera del Río Grande. Ximena Salomé es una talentosa curandera mexicana que sueña con construir una familia con el hombre que ama en la codiciada tierra que llama hogar. Pero cuando los Texas Rangers asaltan su rancho y matan a tiros a su esposo, sus sueños se reducen a cenizas. Prometiendo honrar la memoria de su esposo y defender a su país, Ximena usa sus habilidades curativas como enfermera del ejército en el frente de la devastadora guerra.
Mientras tanto, John Riley, un inmigrante irlandés en el ejército yanqui desesperado por ayudar a su familia a escapar de la hambruna que devasta su tierra natal, está asqueado por la guerra injusta y las atrocidades indescriptibles contra sus compatriotas por parte de oficiales nativistas. En un audaz acto de desafío, cruza a nado el Río Grande y se une al ejército mexicano, una deserción que se castiga con la ejecución. Forma el Batallón de San Patricio, una banda de soldados irlandeses dispuestos a luchar a muerte por la libertad de México. Cuando Ximena y John se encuentran, surge entre ellos una peligrosa atracción. A medida que la guerra se intensifica, también lo hace su pasión. Arrastrados por fuerzas con el poder de cambiar la historia, luchan no solo por el destino de una nación sino también por su futuro juntos.
Desgarradora y lírica, la fascinante saga de Reyna Grande, inspirada en hechos reales y figuras históricas, da vida a estos dos personajes inolvidables e ilumina un momento en gran parte olvidado en la historia que impacta la frontera entre Estados Unidos y México hasta el día de hoy. ¿Sobrevivirán Ximena y John al caos de esta amarga guerra, o su amor será devorado junto con la tierra que luchan por defender?
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 an army nurse on the front lines 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.
Heartbreaking and lyrical, Reyna Grande’s spellbinding saga, inspired by true events and historical figures, brings these two unforgettable characters to life and illuminates a largely forgotten moment in history that impacts the US-México border to this day.
Will Ximena and John survive the chaos of this bitter war, or will their love be devoured along with the land they strive to defend?
Author Info
Born in Mexico, Reyna Grande is the author of the bestselling memoirs The Distance Between Us and its sequel, A Dream Called Home, as well as the novels Across a Hundred Mountains, Dancing with Butterflies, and A Ballad of Love and Glory. Reyna has received an American Book Award, the El Premio Aztlán Literary Award, and a Latino Spirit Award. The young reader’s version of The Distance Between Us received an International Literacy Association Children’s Book Award. Her work has appeared in the New York Times and the Washington Post’s The Lily, on CNN, and more. She has appeared on Oprah's Book Club and has taught at the Macondo Writers Workshop, VONA, Bread Loaf, and other conferences for writers.
