
Beyond the Mountains
An Immigrant's Inspiring Journey of Healing and Learning to Dance with the Universe
Deja Vu Prem(Author)
Counterpoint (Publisher)
Published on 4. November 2025
Book
Paperback/Softback
256 pages
978-1-64009-734-6 (ISBN)
Description
The powerful story of how an immigrant from the Philippines overcame childhood trauma and an emotionally abusive marriage to find her voice and thrive
As a child in a small barrio in the Philippines, Deja Vu Prem faced neglect and physical abuse. At age seventeen, desperate to escape her situation and claim a better life for herself beyond the mountains of her town, she became a mail-order bride and moved to San Francisco. But the challenges of her childhood didn’t go away—they merely evolved into the form of her emotionally abusive husband.
Cut off from her family and any kind of emotional or financial support, Prem was a prisoner in her own home, unable even to use the phone or check the mail. But she wasn’t helpless. Relying on her deep faith and the fire within that had always pushed her to achieve, Prem made the brave decision to escape her situation to provide a better life for herself and her two young children.
Recounting Prem’s harrowing yet hopeful journey, Beyond the Mountains is a stirring and moving portrait of one immigrant’s refusal to be defined as a victim and a testament on finding the strength to forgive in order to reclaim the power that lives within us all.
As a child in a small barrio in the Philippines, Deja Vu Prem faced neglect and physical abuse. At age seventeen, desperate to escape her situation and claim a better life for herself beyond the mountains of her town, she became a mail-order bride and moved to San Francisco. But the challenges of her childhood didn’t go away—they merely evolved into the form of her emotionally abusive husband.
Cut off from her family and any kind of emotional or financial support, Prem was a prisoner in her own home, unable even to use the phone or check the mail. But she wasn’t helpless. Relying on her deep faith and the fire within that had always pushed her to achieve, Prem made the brave decision to escape her situation to provide a better life for herself and her two young children.
Recounting Prem’s harrowing yet hopeful journey, Beyond the Mountains is a stirring and moving portrait of one immigrant’s refusal to be defined as a victim and a testament on finding the strength to forgive in order to reclaim the power that lives within us all.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Berkeley
United States
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Unsewn / adhesive bound
Dimensions
Height: 208 mm
Width: 140 mm
Thickness: 18 mm
Weight
227 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-64009-734-6 (9781640097346)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

Deja Vu Prem
Beyond the Mountains
An Immigrant's Inspiring Journey of Healing and Learning to Dance with the Universe
E-Book
11/2024
Counterpoint
€16.49
Available for download
Person
DEJA VU PREM is a filmmaker originally from the Philippines.