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.

©2022 Reyna Grande. All rights reserved. (P)2022 Simon & Schuster, Inc. All rights reserved.

Great narrative.

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

Bravo

I learned so much about history all while being taken by this beautiful story of love, tragedy and triumph.

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.

Such a great story!

Wow, I absolutely loved listening.Even with some bad accents, the narrator's did a good job! It did not take away from the story itself. I had no idea of the Irish Battalion.So worth the time.

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.

Very interesting

This was a very interesting book . As a Mexican American I was never taught in school about the Mexican American war . This book was so interesting I couldn’t stop listening to it . I feel as I learned so much and it makes me curious to learn more about the Mexican American war and how Europe deserters where involved. Thank you. It was an awesome book .

Misleading title - beware

There is no glory in this book - indeed all of fate conspires to rob the main characters of any modest glory that they might have claimed. I found the book the book utterly depressing. I did give it a chance - indeed I listened until the final 20 minutes, but was so profoundly disgusted that I stopped without finishing. The book does cover some interesting history but it was hard to feel like I ‘learned’ anything as the book does not pretend to be anything other than fiction. The reader did a pretty good job juggling Spanish, Irish, and Irish-speaking-Spanish and Spanish-speaking-English accents, often in the same passage!

Inconvenient Truth !

Although a fictional story it is very well written. The research and details of the real treatment to natives and their supporters are not taught in US history classes. My hopes, Stories like this one serve to help humanity’s history from repeating.
The sad truth of the California and Texas Rangers is, they served as hired assassins killing entire families from newborns to grandparents allowing new ownership to the lands. Sad!
Very Well written novel!!

A true history lesson

I was looking for an off the beaten path historical fiction as it seems that many stories currently being published seem to focus on the same time frames of WWII etc, too often. I wanted to learn about other world events that have happened and had not been touched on on a historical fiction format before. This book certainly fit the criteria. It was such an eye opening experience to delve into. I so enjoyed the two readers and how they each brought so much more to the story. So glad I chose to get the audio version on this one. Greatest compliments to the author. It was so enlightening and informative and I found myself researching more about this war and the characters in the story. That, to me, is a sign that my fire to learn more was lit. It was painful in parts but even those were so well written. Well done!