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Two Steps Forward

A Novel

Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
1 of 1 copy available

From the New York Times bestselling author of The Rosie Project comes a story of taking chances and learning to love again as two people, one mourning her husband and the other recovering from divorce, cross paths on the centuries-old Camino pilgrimage from France to Spain.

"The Chemin will change you. It changes everyone..."

The Chemin, also known as the Camino de Santiago, is a centuries-old pilgrim route that ends in Santiago de Compostela in northwest Spain. Every year, thousands of walkers—some devout, many not—follow the route that wends through quaint small villages and along busy highways alike, a journey unlike any other.

Zoe, an artist from California who's still reeling from her husband's sudden death, has impulsively decided to walk the Camino, hoping to find solace and direction. Martin, an engineer from England, is road-testing a cart of his own design...and recovering from a messy divorce. They begin in the same French town, each uncertain of what the future holds. Zoe has anticipated the physical difficulties of her trek, but she is less prepared for other challenges, as strangers and circumstances force her to confront not just recent loss, but long-held beliefs. For Martin, the pilgrimage is a test of his skills and endurance but also, as he and Zoe grow closer, of his willingness to trust others—and himself—again.

Smart and funny, insightful and romantic, Two Steps Forward reveals that the most important journeys we make aren't measured in miles, but in the strength, wisdom, and love found along the way. Fans of The Rosie Project will recognize Graeme Simsion's uniquely quirky and charming writing style.

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    • Publisher's Weekly

      March 19, 2018
      Buist (Medea’s Curse) and Simsion (The Rosie Project) collaborate on this uneven dual-protagonist story about a California widow and a divorced Brit who find one another on the Chemin, a spiritual walking route that winds through France and Spain. After losing her second husband, Keith, to what she suspects was a suicide, 45-year-old mom Zoe Witt takes up her old pal Camille’s invitation to visit her in France. Zoe learns about the Chemin and participates on a whim, despite her aversions to the walk’s religious origins (she was raised Roman Catholic, but has been at odds with her faith since her mother disowned her for taking her friend to get an abortion in college). Martin Eden, 52, is an engineering professor who thinks the Chemin will be a good way to test a new cart design from which he hopes to profit. He is also still smarting from the fact that his ex-wife cheated on him with his boss. Zoe and Martin get the wrong impression of one another at first, and then over and over again. The will-they-or-won’t-they tension grows old fast as miscommunications keeps them from consummating their affections—a shame since their love story is the least interesting part of the novel. Their interactions with fellow travelers from around the world, as well as their own fraught histories—Zoe’s with the Church, Martin with his teen daughter, Sarah—are the true highlights. Though readers may not fall in love with the central romance, they’ll appreciate everything else.

    • AudioFile Magazine
      Narrators Penelope Rawlins and Simon Slater alternate chapters in telling the story of Zoe and Martin, who walk the Chemin, a.k.a, the Camino de Santiago. Zoe, a recently widowed California artist, and Martin, a just divorced British engineer, meet in Cluny as each begins the century-old pilgrimage. Rawlins uses light tones to portray Zoe, who struggles to rediscover herself as she walks. The brighter timbre of Rawlins's voice contrasts with Slater's crisp British accent for Martin. Both narrators deftly switch to Dutch, German, Brazilian, French, and Spanish accents as Zoe and Martin encounter a variety of people. As their characters traverse the 1,200 miles, Rawlins and Slater--never exhausted, footsore, or disheartened--imbue their performances with hope, laughter, and love. M.B.K. © AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine
    • Books+Publishing

      July 27, 2017
      Martin, a divorced English engineer, and Zoe, a widowed American artist, are each at a turning point in their lives. Unexpectedly alone, without money or young families to care for, they are unsure where life will take them next. Each sets out to walk over 2000 kilometres along the Camino de Santiago, the famous pilgrim’s walk through France and Spain. Martin has planned his journey meticulously while Zoe has embarked on something of a whim, inspired by the promise that the Camino will help her find what she has lost. Martin’s and Zoe’s stories are told in alternating chapters by husband-and-wife writing team Graeme Simsion and Anne Buist. The leisurely paced novel explores themes of forgiveness and self-discovery with gentle humour. A cast of interesting characters and the detailed descriptions of the logistics and rich history of the walk add to its appeal. Two Steps Forward is a feel-good, mature romance that explores what we need to let go of to move forward. It will be enjoyed by fans of Simsion’s ‘Rosie’ books and Rachel Joyce’s The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry. Melanie Mutch is a librarian and co-founder of librarianschoice.org

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  • English

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