Across A Hundred Mountains

Across a Hundred Mountains is a 2006 novel by Reyna Grande. It won the American Book Award. The novel tells the story of two women, Adelina and Juana. Every few pages, the novel alternates between each woman’s story. Adelina is an adult working at a woman’s shelter in Los Angeles and has devoted her life to searching for her father, who went missing many years ago. At the beginning of the novel, Adelina finally finds her father’s body in Mexico, near the border between Mexico and the United States; he is still holding the white rosary he left home with. Adelina’s mother is dying in a village in Mexico, and Adelina is determined to bring her father’s ashes back to her mother. She begins her long journey from Los Angeles to that small Mexican village.

Juana is an 11-year-old girl living in a small village in Mexico at the opening of her story. One night, Juana’s father, Apá, is late returning home from work. It is raining hard and the family’s shack begins to flood. Juana’s mother, Amá, tells Juana to hold her baby sister, Anita, while Amá goes to search for Apá.