A Ballad of Love and Glory

If you’ve never heard of the Saint Patrick’s Battalion—the Irish soldiers who deserted the US Army to fight for Mexico during the Mexican-American War of 1847—with this novel, Reyna Grande will fill in the blanks in grand style. She pulls you in using the trope of a romance between Ximena, a curandera, and John Riley, an Irish-American artilleryman, both pawns in a gigantic land grab now regarded as one of the US’s forgotten wars.

We listen to the big personalities—Mexican General Antonio López de Santa Anna and US General Zachary Taylor—give their version of events even as the book provides… show more.

This author tells the story of the Irish Battalion and the Mexican War from the perspective of a female nurse who treated soldiers on both sides. It provides an element of compassion as the day-to-day conflicts unfold within and without.

I could sympathize with the plight of women, whether camp followers on the Mexican side or washerwomen and cooks on the American side. I especially liked the fact that she does not shy away from women of loose morals while at the same time showing the dignity and courage of those who helped heal and comfort the wounded.