By Melissa Gonzalez
FROM: Latinx in Publishing

A Ballad of Love and Glory takes place in 1846. After Texas has been annexed, the US army begins to head south to start a war with Mexico over the Río Grande border. The novel follows Mexican army nurse, Ximena Salomé Benítez y Catalán and Irish soldier, John Riley. To honor the memory of her deceased husband, Ximena uses her skills in healing to tend to those injured in the war. After John Riley deserts the US Army, he forms a group within the Mexican Army called the Saint Patrick’s Battalion or El Batallón de San Patricio. As tensions rise between Mexico and the US, so does the love and passion between Ximena and John.

Ximena Salomé Benítez y Catalán is a gifted healer and has learned her skills from her grandmother, Nana Hortencia, a renowned curandera in the area. She lives on her ranch with her husband, Joaquín, but when the infamous Texas Rangers make their way onto her home, she is left a widow. This incident, on top of the impending war, sparks the drive for Ximena to be on the frontlines by using her healing skills to tend to patients, on both sides of the war. Upon meeting a new Irish soldier, Ximena begins an affair with him and finds a new reason to fight for the fate of her nation.