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 sweeping
historical 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 "timely
and riveting" (People) Across a Hundred Mountains and 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 an army 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.
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?
