“While reading Our Lives are the Rivers I was beautifully and completely transported to another time and place, which is a gift that only the best novels can give a reader. Page-turner, work of art, love-story, historical novel—Jaime Manrique has done it all in this magnificent and stunning book.” — Jonathan Ames, author of Wake Up, Sir!
“The love affair between Manuela Sáenz, a respectable married woman, and Simon Bolivar, Latin America’s greatest hero, is brought vividly to life in Jaime Manrique’s radiant new novel. Told through Manuela’s voice and those of her two slaves, Natán and Jonotás, Our Lives Are the Rivers illuminates a momentous phase in the liberation of colonial South America.” — John Ashbery, Winner of the Pulitzer Prize and author of Where Shall I Wander
"[A] deliciously romantic epic tale of an important moment in the history of the Americas. At the center of it all is the beautiful, passionate, complex and controversial Manuela Saenz, Simon Bolivar’s long-time mistress and devoted ally. Manrique has created a vivid and captivating portrait of a reckless, intelligent and endlessly fascinating woman who defied societal conventions and risked her own life in the name of great, burning love, glory and revolution." — Jessica Hagedorn, author of Dream Jungle
“An epic page-turner that swells with ecstatic love and righteous anger, Manrique’s latest skillfully recreates an inspired pair, and their times.” — Publishers Weekly
“Manrique adeptly chronicles Sáenz’s uniquely independent life and inimitable contributions to South America’s independence from Spain as well as her intense love affair with revolutionary leader Simón Bolívar,” — Library Journal
“Would you like to read a novel based on true events about a woman who was a beautiful spy, an indomitable soldier, a fiery lover? Would you like this novel to have the brillo of an opera and the intrigue of a telenovela, but, at the same time, be underscored by the subtler counterpoints of mystery and memory . Then don’t miss reading Our Lives Are the Rivers by Jaime Manrique.” — Laura Restrepo, author of The Dark Bride and Isle of Passion
“This juicy, deliciously involving tale, a masterful fusion of fact and fantasy, is everything we look for in historical fiction. The novel ultimately a moving evocation of compelling characters, for whom personal hunger and political destiny are one.” — Phillip Lopate, author of The Art of the Personal Essay
“A compelling story that melds history and biography into the context of a passionate love affair, Our Lives Are the Rivers is a masterful piece of historical fiction.” — San Francisco Chronicle
“A vivid portrait. . . . Our Lives Are the Rivers views history through the eyes of one of South America’s biggest heroines.” — Boston Globe
Based on actual events, this sweeping novel tells the life story of a woman who was willing to risk it all for her country and her lover—in whose legacy lies the history of an entire continent.
Our Lives Are the Rivers tells the story of beautiful young freedom fighter Manuela Sáenz, and the epic tale of her long love affair with liberator Simón Bolívar. A novel of intoxicating love, passion, and adventure, Jaime Manrique vividly captures a dynamic continent struggling for its own identity.
