Beyond the Mountains: An Immigrant’s Inspiring Journey of Healing and Learning to Dance with the Universe

In this stirring debut memoir, Prem recounts coming from the rural Philippines to San Francisco as a mail-order bride in 1989 and her subsequent struggle to leave her emotionally abusive marriage. After a brutal childhood marked by poverty and sexual abuse, with solo walks in the mountains as her only respite, Prem learned about mail-order brides during a trip to the library. Certain she’d found her only ticket to “something better,” at age 17 she began corresponding with an American named Harvey. Prem soon moved to San Francisco, married Harvey, and gave birth to two children. It didn’t take long, however, for Harvey to reveal his controlling, emotionally manipulative tendencies. After four years of marriage, Prem left him with only $100 in her pocket, taking her daughters first to Berkeley, Calif., and then to Colorado, where she once again took solace in nature. In the memoir’s second half, Prem tentatively enters a new relationship, returns to the Philippines to face her abusers, and offers her daughters hard-won nuggets of wisdom. Throughout, her tenacity and unstinting optimism inspire. This slim volume pays big emotional dividends. (Nov.)