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What is the true power of stories? Can they heal the jagged edges of a traumatic childhood? Is the cost of telling the story worth the price of the cure?
Reyna Grande has spent her career capturing the raw reality of life across borders. In this intricate and deeply intimate memoir-in-essays, the author of the landmark memoirs The Distance Between Us and A Dream Called Home again turns her gaze inward to explore the scars left by migration and the ongoing work of stitching herself back together.
With her signature blend of sophistication and raw honesty, Grande interrogates how living between two nations, two languages, and two identities has shaped the woman, mother, and writer she has become.
Moving from the legacy of violence in her hometown of Iguala, Mexico, to a bittersweet family vacation in Europe spent reconciling her own impoverished past with her children’s world of abundance, she uncovers startling truths about the nature of survival.
Whether being racially profiled in the Arizona borderlands or finding unexpected wisdom from the slugs in her garden, Grande unflinchingly asks: How do we bridge the gap between who we were and who we have become? How do we turn pain into power? When memory threatens to define us, how can we use story to heal while still honoring our boundaries?
Migrant Heart: Essays About Things I Can’t Forget is a powerful testament to Grande’s role as a storyteller and cultural witness. It expands our understanding of life in the United States and the complex people who cross and live within its borders. It is an essential read for the seekers, the dreamers, and anyone who believes in the enduring, transformative power of finding one’s voice.
PRAISE FOR MIGRANT HEART:
“Reyna Grande lays bare her entire Migrant Heart in these riveting essays. From a poverty-stricken childhood to eradicating a slug infestation in her garden, the honesty in Grande’s words is the soft medicine our communities need. Migrant Heart is a must-read for everyone who has ever suffered, who has ever loved, who has ever needed cycles of trauma broken.”
Javier Zamora, NYT bestselling author of Solito
“Migrant Heart is deep, gorgeous, and full of unexpected chambers that will by turns unsettle you, infuriate you, comfort you, and, if you let them, heal you. And while much darkness lies in many of these essays—of human nature, of life, of our nation—ultimately, they are illuminated with love.”
Xóchitl González, Pulitzer Prize finalist and NYT bestselling author of Olga Dies Dreaming
“With heart and verve, and her own particular candor, so warm like a sun, Reyna Grande writes about writing, memory, the Ayotzinapa 43, the cruelties of the border, menopause, slug sex, and queen bees. I love Reyna’s way of seeing the world. These essays are heart-big.”
Ingrid Rojas Contreras, Pulitzer Prize finalist and author of The Man Who Could Move Clouds
“Migrant Heart is the exact book I needed during this tumultuous time. These essays should be taught across the country. Reyna’s stories of surviving and thriving as a Brown woman in the United States are seamlessly told through her sharp, vibrant prose. This is a book I will return to again and again.”
Erika Sánchez, NYT bestselling author of I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter and Crying in the Bathroom
“Reyna Grande is a singular voice, honest in her writing and generous with her humanity. In this new collection of essays, she holds grief and pain alongside reinvention, resilience, and a persistent, hard-won pursuit of joy. With clarity, Grande shows us that life is rarely one thing at a time, and living fully means holding the contradictions even when it’s painful.”
-Julissa Arce Raya, Best Selling Author of You Sound Like a White Girl
“Latinidad is not a monolith, and these stories reflect what that means. Our stories are rooted in finding our voices, clawing our way back to our roots after the wounding severance created when migrating so young, and perseverance. I cried, holding my chest, as I felt Reyna’s longings as my own. What a profound read.”
Prisca Dorcas Mojica Rodríguez, Bestselling author of For Brown Girls with Sharp Edges and Tender Hearts
“Tender, powerful, and scorchingly courageous, Migrant Heart explores violence and sorrow in families and systems and finds sanctuary along the way… When I say that I’m haunted, I mean it in the best possible way.”
Catherine Newman, NYT bestselling author of Sandwich and Wreck
