Masha & Alejandro Crossing Borders
Barbara L. Baer
ISBN 978-1-963908-30-5 292 pages $25.00
Two young immigrants, Masha from Ukraine and Alejandro from El Salvador, move to rural, forested Trinity County, California. Masha works as a nurse in a regional hospital and Alex in an auto body shop. What they don’t expect are visits from a local militia group unfriendly to outsiders. Masha’s unvaccinated Covid patients blame her for their illness, while Alex faces hostility and violence from MAGA supporters. Alex and his son Tomas battle the Trinity wildfires side by side with unlikely allies, making peace with neighbors seem possible. The novel focuses on immigrants trying to find a home, the timeless American story in a time unlike any other.
About other books by Barbara L. Baer
Grisha the Scrivener
Barbara Baer’s amazing novel sheds a unique and yes, a poetic light, on the people who endured the worst of times in Soviet Central Asia, Georgia and “Mother Russia.” Barbara has a remarkable ability to delve into the lives and experiences of those so distinct from our own.
Judy Stone, film writer and author Eye on the World
The Ballet Lover
The Ballet Lover exposes the beauty and cruelty of ballet, the performances, the backstage moments, and the personal drama of the famous dancers Rudolph Nureyev and Natalia Makarova.
Book Glow
The Last Devadasi
A half world away, I was delivered into the streets of India.
Paul Falk, author, reviewer
Barbara Baer managed to portray beautifully all that is beautiful and ugly in the Indian society. I’m a huge fan of novels that deal with social criticism, and I loved how she tackled these social issues. I believe for a book to be good, it needs to explore at least some important themes, and this one certainly does so.
Mina Vucicevic, Reviewer
The Ice Palace Waltz
The Ice Palace Waltz by Barbara L. Baer is a grand getaway, transporting me beyond my world into a fascinating sphere of captivating characters and their travels. As soon as I finished it, I wanted to read again. It’s that good.
Marlene Cullan, The Write Spot
Barbara L. Baer lives in northern California with Michael Morey, a biographer and writer. B.A. and M.A. from Stanford, she has taught in India and the former U.S.S.R. and has won national journalism prizes. Masha and Alejandro is her fifth novel.
