Few authors capture the quiet transformation of a soul in motion quite like Suzanne Redfearn, and Call of the Camino is a stunning reminder that sometimes the journey we take to find ourselves begins with the steps we never meant to take.
Title: Call of the Camino
Author: Suzanne Redfearn
Series: N/A
Genre: Women’s Fiction
Rating: 5 out of 5 ⭐
Disclaimer
Affiliate links can be found within this post. If you need additional information, please see the disclaimer.
I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book which I received from the author. All views expressed are only my honest opinion.
My Thoughts:
Introduction
As with all of Suzanne’s work, this book brings to life even more ways to self reflect on life and one’s purpose. Using a dual perspective of Reina (present day) and Isabelle (1997) we follow the experience of two different women as they walk the Camino de Santiago.
Before I get into the depths of this book, I want to make sure everyone has a chance to understand what the Camino de Santiago is.
Camino de Santiago (wikipedia)
The Camino de Santiago or the Way of St. James in English, is a network of pilgrims’ ways or pilgrimages leading to the shrine of the apostle James in the cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in Galicia in northwestern Spain, where tradition holds that the remains of the apostle are buried. Pilgrims follow its routes as a form of spiritual path or retreat for their spiritual growth. It is also popular with hikers, cyclists, and organized tour groups.
The main pilgrimage route to Santiago follows an earlier Roman trade route, which continues to the Atlantic coast of Galicia, ending at Cape Finisterre. Although it is known today that Cape Finisterre, Spain’s westernmost point, is not the westernmost point of Europe (Cabo da Roca in Portugal is farther west), the fact that the Romans called it Finisterrae (literally the end of the world or Land’s End in Latin) indicates that they viewed it as such. At night, the Milky Way overhead seems to point the way, so the route acquired the nickname “Voie lactée” – the Milky Way in French.[9]
The scallop shell, often found on the shores in Galicia, has long been the symbol of the Camino de Santiago. Over the centuries the scallop shell has taken on a variety of meanings, metaphorical, practical, and mythical, even if its relevance may have actually derived from the desire of pilgrims to take home a souvenir.
My Review
In Call of the Camino, Reina works for a magazine that is trying to grasp it’s last opportunity to survive and they are depending on a piece by one of their journalists about walking the Camino de Santiago. Reina’s co-worker, Matt, is the one on the story but when he runs into passport issues, Reina jumps on the chance. Her father had walked the Camino before Reina was born and they had always planned to walk it together, but he died when she was young and now is her chance to live that dream.
Her journey through the pilgrimage on the Camino is an emotional unraveling of her perspective on her life. Accompanied by her father’s journal and photos of his journey that were only recently found, she reads his daily writing along with her own journey. Allowing her the opportunity to experience his past along with her present and watch it unfold. But through this process she learns things about her family she never knew. Including the mother that died when she was very young.
Having lost both of her parents and having such little memory of her mother, this is a journey for Reina of rediscovery and growth. Her co-worker Matt ends up making it on the trip as well and things chance between them through the course of walking almost 500 miles together over a month.
Conversely, the other timeline follows Reina’s mother, Isabelle, and her experience of being from a small mountain town of Andorra. Her family has been residing their for generations and is also deeply steeped in family warfare. Isabelle’s journey begins because of a family debt where her life must be taken to replace the lives of the other family’s deceased children. She goes on the run and finds solace in the Camino as she tries to figure out what to do next.
What I loved so much about this story is the connection between the two women and their own paths they are following and discovering themselves, but also how Reina is experience both in her timeline. She’s rediscovering her family and herself with each mile that she walks.
The imagery in this story made me feel as if I was on the Camino myself and I could imagine the depths of wheat fields swaying around me or the chiming bells of the churches that the pilgrims are visiting, the sounds of rushing water as they stop to fill their water bottles. It was as reflective for me to read as it was for the characters written on the pages.
A beautiful story about life; living life and loving life and slowing down a little to hear that inner voice and reconnect with oneself. I was very happy with the ending of this story as well and I will admit that I cried through the last few chapters. I felt so emotional when they reached the end of the Camino because of everything they had been through physically and emotionally.
Another amazing story from Suzanne Redfearn who never ceases to amaze me with her reflective prose that speaks directly to my soul each and every time I read her work.
Publisher’s Blurb:
From the bestselling author of In an Instant comes a deeply moving novel following the transformative journeys of two women walking entwined paths on a legendary route across Europe a generation apart.
Reina Watkins lost her father when she was eight. Seventeen years later, she still carries that grief. When her budding journalism career takes an unexpected turn, it leads her to the ancient five-hundred-mile Camino de Santiago in Spain. Now she finds herself embarking on the same pilgrimage that her father made at her age, unaware of how profoundly it will change her.
Back in 1997, Isabelle Vidal is a teenager on the run. Fleeing from her boarding school, she heads straight for the Way of Saint James. She’s heard the Camino will provide. And so it does, in the form of a handsome young American and the promise of a new life. But it could all fall apart if her troubles catch up with her.
One woman is coming to grips with her past; the other is grasping for her future. But as each treads the same hallowed trail, it will knot their destinies together in a most miraculous way.
Where to Buy:
Final Thoughts:
Call of the Camino is more than a story of two women walking across Spain—it’s a meditation on love, loss, and the faith it takes to keep moving forward when the road is long and the heart is heavy.
If you could take one meaningful journey—spiritual, emotional, or physical—to reconnect with yourself, where would it lead you?
Related Reads:
Looking for book recs…
Adventures in Literature 
Leave a comment