Crossing the Line : A Marriage Across Borders

Lyrically written with a poet's eye for the human condition and a reporter's attention to detail, this true love story set along the US-Mexico border takes one of the most contentious political disputes of our time and puts it in the context of head-over-heels, love-at-first-sight euphoria. After years of writing nationally acclaimed commentary about immigration for the biggest newspaper in Arizona, award-winning journalist Linda Valdez tells her personal story of marrying a Mexican man whose difficulties in getting a visa led him to cross the border illegally. A former Arizona attorney general says this book should be required reading for Donald Trump. But that's not because this is a political treatise. It isn't. This is a true story that reads like a novel. It's about how love turns vast differences in background, culture, and experience into a family's biggest asset. It's a journey of discovery about the real Mexico and the real Mexicans--and why the United States is lucky to have them for neighbors. It's about the personal triumphs and challenges of raising a child to love both cultures. Throw in the blessing of two powerful matriarchs, the ghost of Pancho Villa, and a purposefully mistranslated wedding, you get a story told with humor and an emotional charge that is both timely and timeless.