A Ballad of Love and Glory

A Novel

By: Reyna Grande

Narrated by: Yareli Arizmendi, Aidan Kelly

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.

Great narrative.

Freedom, honor and love! Great historical novel. I enjoyed it very much. Praise to Reyna Grande.

Ugh

Slugged through most of this but quit before the end. I just couldn’t take it any more. It’s just a predictable and not very good romance with a bit of war story that is the only saving grace to this book

Fascinating

I learned many new things regarding our history with Mexico. It is well written and researched.

The truth

The weaving of story and truth/history. I felt like I was in the trenches with the characters. The hidden truths brought to life.

Good but the book description is misleading

This is categorized as historical fiction. It is. It’s good historical fiction. However, the book description places heavy emphasis on the romance between the two lead characters. That is oversold and undelivered. So if you are looking for an epic romance, this is not it. It’s about war and has a focus on the foreign soldiers who joined Mexico’s army. That is absolutely fascinating and the detail is phenomenal. I just wish I had gone in with the right expectation.

The narrators were okay. The male narrative was pretty good. The female narrator was a little too singsong for my liking.