When a close friend is stricken with cancer, the author has no answers on how to cope with the situation and this feeling of helpless ineffectiveness, drives her to find a challenge as close as possible to the battle against an incurable disease. Walking the 850km of the Camino, the pilgrimage of Santiago de Compostela, turns out to be exactly that. On a physical as well as a mental level the Camino is a more demanding and exigent challenge than any she had ever had to face in her privileged life. An overlap of history and personal observation, of perception and of reality, this is the life-changing spiritual journey of a woman who chooses to walk alone, in the heart of winter, but who generously takes the reader by the hand to share the experience.
She introduces you to her fellow-pilgrims and fellow travellers - such as the East German woman who is hoping to find God on the way and be ready for baptism in Santiago de Compostela; a wiser than his years young student who is preparing to take blind people on the pilgrimage; a Japanese musical actor who brings with him his sense of honour, tradition and fun; Ernst who was wheelchair-bound until five years ago and now walks; Karina who sings choral music and who drinks or smokes too much dope every night, and accumulates more baggage than she had when she set off. She pulls you into these pilgrims' discussions, lets you eavesdrop on their confessions and listen to their points of view, she cries with you when you learn their inspirational stories, she laughs with you when their humour fills the refuge dormitories.
When a close friend is stricken with cancer, the author has no answers on how to cope with the situation and this feeling of helpless ineffectiveness, drives her to find a challenge as close as possible to the battle against an incurable disease. Walking the 850km of the Camino, the pilgrimage of Santiago de Compostela, turns out to be exactly that. On a physical as well as a mental level the Camino is a more demanding and exigent challenge than any she had ever had to face in her privileged life. An overlap of history and personal observation, of perception and of reality, this is the life-changing spiritual journey of a woman who chooses to walk alone, in the heart of winter, but who generously takes the reader by the hand to share the experience.
She introduces you to her fellow-pilgrims and fellow travellers - such as the East German woman who is hoping to find God on the way and be ready for baptism in Santiago de Compostela; a wiser than his years young student who is preparing to take blind people on the pilgrimage; a Japanese musical actor who brings with him his sense of honour, tradition and fun; Ernst who was wheelchair-bound until five years ago and now walks; Karina who sings choral music and who drinks or smokes too much dope every night, and accumulates more baggage than she had when she set off. She pulls you into these pilgrims' discussions, lets you eavesdrop on their confessions and listen to their points of view, she cries with you when you learn their inspirational stories, she laughs with you when their humour fills the refuge dormitories.
The Way of Stars and Stones: Thoughts on a Pilgrimage
296
The Way of Stars and Stones: Thoughts on a Pilgrimage
296
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781770097490 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Jacana Media |
| Publication date: | 07/01/2009 |
| Pages: | 296 |
| Product dimensions: | 6.10(w) x 9.20(h) x 1.00(d) |