Call of the Camino is a two-timeline, two point-of-view novel. In one, Reina Watkins is a budding writer trapped in a copyediting job. When a fellow journalist loses his passport and can’t make the deadline for the trip, she impulsively volunteers to cover his story about the Camino de Santiago in Spain. With no training, she takes off on the 500-mile walk across rough terrain, following in her dead father’s footsteps on the journey. In the second timeline, seventeen-year-old Isabelle Vidal flees for Portugal along the Camino when her life is threatened due to politics in her Andorran village. There are some readings from Reina’s father’s journal along the Camino where he meets Isabelle which provide a minor third point of view. The Camino becomes a metaphor for self-growth and healing.
The Spanish landscape, the friendships that develop along the Camino, and the hardships of the actual 500-mile walk seem authentic, perhaps because Redfearn did the walk herself. Early in the novel, the two timelines didn’t seem to have anything to do with each other, but as the short chapters passed, the relationship between Reina and Isabelle became apparent and from there on, I really enjoyed the story.
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Call of the Camino (Lake Union Publishing, October 1, 2025) is available through:
Your local independent bookseller | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
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