Migrant Heart, Reyna Grande
Migrant Heart, Reyna Grande
List: $23.99 | Sale: $16.79
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Migrant Heart
Essays About Things I Can't Forget

Author: Reyna Grande

Narrator: Reyna Grande

Unabridged: 8 hr 45 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 05/12/2026

Includes: Bonus Material Bonus Material Included


Synopsis

An ambitious memoir in essays by beloved bestselling author Reyna Grande that illuminates the hidden cost of the American Dream and the complex journey of healing that follows survival.

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 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.

About Reyna Grande

Reyna Grande is an award-winning author, motivational speaker, and writing teacher. As a young girl, she crossed the US–Mexico border to join her family in Los Angeles, a harrowing journey chronicled in The Distance Between Us, a National Book Critics Circle Award finalist. Her other books include the novels A Ballad of Love and GloryAcross a Hundred Mountains, and Dancing with Butterflies, the memoirs Migrant HeartThe Distance Between Us: Young Readers Edition, and Dream Called Home, and the anthology Somewhere We Are Human: Authentic Voices on MigrationSurvival, and New Beginnings. She lives in Woodland, California, with her husband and two children. Visit ReynaGrande.com for more information.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Dayanna on April 18, 2026

I just finished Migrant Heart by Reyna Grande, and I absolutely loved it. In her earlier books, Grande focused on the painful realities of her past, and rightfully so. Those stories carried the weight of trauma and survival. But in this memoir, she makes it clear from the very beginning that her int......more

Goodreads review by unstable.books on May 07, 2026

Migrant Heart is a deeply reflective collection of essays examining immigration, memories, motherhood, and the complicated act of turning personal pain into public testimony. This collection feels very meditative, shaped not only by the wounds of childhood and displacement, but also by the emotional......more

Goodreads review by Jackie on May 12, 2026

Happy Release Day to Migrant Heart 🥳 thank you so much to Primero Sueño Press for providing me with the ARC of this book. I finished it last night but figured posting my review on release day would be fun! . Migrant Heart was a beautiful read. I loved getting to hear this author’s reflection on her li......more

Goodreads review by liv on February 20, 2026

thank you netgalley for the arc! 🦋❤️‍🩹🐝🇲🇽 3.5/4 ⭐️ - i can't decide truthfully. reyna is so honest and real in this book. she talks about very heavy subjects - alcoholism, death, grief, immigration, harsh family dynamics, sexual assault, fear of aging, to name a few. she really poured her heart out i......more

Goodreads review by Lupita on April 29, 2026

Es una recopilación de ensayos sobre pensamientos y hechos que la autora no puede olvidar. Algunos de ellos se centran en eventos ocurridos en su vida o en la de su familia, otro son eventos de caracter social y político relacionados con la migración y el activismo que la autora realiza en esta área......more