Across a Hundred Mountains

A Novel

By: Reyna Grande

Narrated by: Marisa Blake, Cynthia Farrell

Winner of the American Book Award, Across a Hundred Mountains is a “timely and riveting” (People) novel about a young girl who leaves her small town in Mexico to find her father, who left his family to work in America—a story of migration, loss, and discovery.

After a tragedy separates her from her mother, Juana García leaves in search of her father, who left them two years earlier. Out of money and in need of someone to help her across the border, Juana meets Adelina Vasquez, a young woman who left her family in California to follow her lover to Mexico. Finding themselves in a Tijuana jail in desperate circumstances, they offer each other much needed material and spiritual support and ultimately become linked forever in the most unexpected of ways.

In Across a Hundred Mountains, Reyna Grande puts a human face on the controversial issue of immigration, helping readers to better understand “the desperation of illegal immigrants and the families they leave behind” (Entertainment Weekly) in pursuit of a better life.

Critic reviews

"A Mexican teenager leaves her destitute family and tiny village to cross the U.S. border in search of her father, who left two years earlier to find work and a new start. Sounding like a cross between a folktale and news ripped from today’s headlines, bilingual narrators Cynthia Farrell and Marisa Blake find a good balance between the journalistic prose and the emotional subject matter involving loss of family and culture. The details, especially those of the girl being caught between her “coyote” handlers and U.S. Customs officials, are realistic, visceral, and heartrending. In the end, Farrell’s and Blake’s voices emphasize the glimmers of hope that make stories of immigration universal."

A good listen

As others mentioned, it can be a bit confusing with the jumping between characters and time settings, but it does come together. It was also a good length. Glad I gave it a try.

Loved it!!

This store Brough back memories of Mexico and family and life in the ranch. Love it from beginning to end.

Definitely recommend

heart-wrenching

This is one of the saddest stories I've read; it hurts.
I was confused most of the way through with the story jumping back and forth between characters and with the accent and words in Spanish I just wasn't sure what was happening or who it was happening to, at times. It made more sense toward the end and I appreciated the ending.

I loved it

This book was great I couldn’t stop listening and look forward to listening to all books by Reyna Grande

Didn’t finish it

I only listed to about 1/3 of the book. There wasn’t any time spent introducing character. It just jumped right in and with out context was hard to follow. It was just things happening to ram some girls. The depth of character was missing. It may have been a good story but it wasn’t great storytelling.