Between You a River - by Kimberly Garza (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

A haunting family drama about two sisters who travel back to their family's ancestral land in the Philippines, where long-buried secrets resurface in the wake of their mother's death.

Corazon de la Cruz's death shook her family to its very core, and her daughters are still picking up the pieces. Hannah is attempting to continue her mother's legacy as a doctor in Uvalde, Texas, a community that's reeling with grief after a tragic school shooting. Mari, on the other hand, has gone as far from home as possible, following an ill-fated romance across the world.

Estranged from each other and from their roots in the Philippines, a distant cousin suddenly urges them to return to the island of Mindoro to settle unresolved family business. Together for the first time in years--with each other and with their Filipino relatives--the sisters find that the fate of their family's ancestral land is in their hands, and it's about to slip away. As they fight to protect their homeland, they unearth shocking secrets hidden from them by their beloved matriarch--about her life, the land, and themselves.

A lush family saga and a love letter to Texas and the Philippines, Between You a River follows two sisters confronting the legacy their mother left behind, their dual identities, and the lifelong push and pull of home.

Review Quotes

Praise for The Last Karankawas

"A vivid account of Fish Village . . . The novel skillfully weaves together multiple points of view . . . pulling us into this time and place with a rich description of its particulars . . . Garza's accomplished debut enriches the public imagination of this corner of America, and the communities within."
--Melissa Chadburn, The New York Times Book Review

"Garza manages to expertly capture a range of voices in this stunning and elegiac polyphonic novel . . . Expect great things from this debut writer."
--The Los Angeles Times

"An ode to Galveston, Texas and especially its enmeshed Latino and Filipino communities . . . Heartfelt . . . Every city would be lucky for such a tribute."
--The Wall Street Journal

"A beautifully written, emotionally compelling debut novel . . . This exquisite book marks the beginning of what will hopefully be a long and prodigious writing career by the extraordinary Kimberly Garza."
--Brad Thor, TODAY

"Written in lyrical, nearly hypnotic prose that makes the reader feel the Texan humidity, this is a brilliantly plotted, startling, and richly rewarding exploration of the myths that bind people together, generational traumas, and the remarkable adaptability of humans."
--Booklist

"Stunning . . . Garza gracefully moves through the lives of various characters as they contend with family history and the meaning of home."
--Book Riot

"Garza highlights the diverse origins and worldview behind the brown faces of Texas's south coast . . . Evocative, sometimes heartbreaking, and full of rich descriptions, The Last Karankawas is a love letter to the Galveston most tourists never see and a tribute to the people who sustain, and are sustained by, their adopted homeland."
--Shelf Awareness

"Garza debuts with an accomplished account of the ties between members of a Filipino and Mexican community . . . This is a worthy love letter to Galveston."
--Publishers Weekly

"An immersive experience of a particularly complex community which is both beautiful and dangerous . . . The Last Karankawas reflects and speaks to our present destabilized moment with storm-level intensity."
--The Washington Independent Review of Books

"The Last Karankawas is exactly the kind of book I've spent my life searching for as a Chicana of mixed and Filipino heritage. Kimberly Garza's eloquent and deeply observant debut expands our understanding of South Texas and vibrantly honors the remarkable people who live there. This is a writer to watch."
--Kali Fajardo-Anstine, author of Woman of Light and Sabrina & Corina

"Beautiful, complex, and subversive, The Last Karankawas is an important book about Texas from a powerful new voice in American fiction. I loved it. These characters and their stories will stay with me."
--Elizabeth Wetmore, New York Times bestselling author of Valentine

"Devastating in its own clarity and nuance. The Last Karankawas has the power to change the way we see where we've been and what we may have left behind. A stunning debut from a talented writer."
--Oscar Cásares, author of Where We Come From

"The Last Karankawas is a deft and moving portrait of ordinary lives lived in an extraordinary place. Kimberly Garza's writing is warm, beautifully observed, and filled with human drama. Like all really good fiction, it opens our eyes to new experiences and shows us things we don't already know."
--Ian McGuire, bestselling author of The North Water

"With prose that is elegant and measured, sonorous and at times painfully beautiful, Kimberly Garza lays bare a Southern Texas that has somehow remained unsung until now. The Last Karankawas is not merely a book. . . It is a collection of incantations--secret and sacred, meant to be shared in a hush."
--Miroslav Penkov, author of East of the West and Stork Mountain

About the Author

Kimberly Garza is a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin and the University of North Texas, where she earned a PhD in 2019, and the author of The Last Karankawas. Her fiction and nonfiction have appeared in Copper Nickel, DIAGRAM, Creative Nonfiction, TriQuarterly, and elsewhere. A native Texan--born in Galveston, raised in Uvalde--she is an assistant professor of creative writing and literature at the University of Texas at San Antonio.