Between You a River

by Kimberly Garza

A haunting family drama about two sisters who travel back to their family’s ancestral land in the Philippines, where long-buried secrets unfurl 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.

304 pages, Hardcover

Expected publication December 1, 2026

About the author

Kimberly Garza is a native Texan, born in Galveston, raised in Uvalde. She earned a PhD in creative writing and Chicanx literature from the University of North Texas and is a tenure track assistant professor of creative writing and literature at the University of Texas at San Antonio. Half Mexican-American, half Filipina-American, Kimberly has had work published in TriQuarterly, Creative Nonfiction, Bennington Review, and others; and has been the recipient of scholarships from Breadloaf and The Michener Center for Writers. The Last Karankawas is her first book.