Finding Home: A Journey from Ireland to the Texas Badlands - Paperback

by Joel Beeson (Author)

A dramatic story of immigration plays out in Texas in the mid-1800s as two families from very different worlds struggle to find their way in America. Their stories merge when they meet at the fabled King Ranch in South Texas, just prior to the Civil War. Strength, faith, courage, and determination are tested as they create a family and carve out a home in the still-wild American West.

Finding Home interweaves the harrowing stories of an Irish brother and sister and a family of three Mexican children as both sets of young immigrants begin their respective journeys across pre-Civil War America. Siblings John and Nellie Delaney arrive by ship in New York, fleeing an increasingly dangerous life in Ireland. The de la Garza family of Josephina, Felix, and Aldo make their way up from Mexico on foot, through the treacherous badlands of South Texas.

Orphaned early in their American experience, both families experience intense grief while alone in a foreign country. Without protection or resources, they face extreme hardships and constant dangers. The lives of these courageous young people play out against the colorful historical backdrop of the Civil War, the ending of slavery, and the resolution of the Mexico-United States tug-of-war over Texas.

When their stories collide in the American West, the power of love and family come into sharp focus as these displaced young immigrants learn that the meaning of home sometimes transcends both geography and experience.