'Zoe, a sometime artist, is from California. Martin, an engineer, is from Yorkshire. Both have ended up in picturesque Cluny, in central France. Both are struggling to come to terms with their recent past—for Zoe, the death of her husband; for Martin, a messy divorce.
'Looking to make a new start, each sets out alone to walk two thousand kilometres from Cluny to Santiago, in northwestern Spain, in the footsteps of pilgrims who have walked the Camino—the Way—for centuries. The Camino changes you, it’s said. It’s a chance to find a new version of yourself.
'But can these two very different people find each other?
'In this smart, funny and romantic journey, Martin’s and Zoe’s stories are told in alternating chapters by husband-and-wife team Graeme Simsion and Anne Buist.
'Two Steps Forward is a novel about renewal—physical, psychological and spiritual. It’s about the challenge of walking a long distance and of working out where you are going. And it’s about what you decide to keep, what you choose to leave behind and what you rediscover.' (Synopsis)
Author's note: This book was inspired by the people who walked with us, who welcomed us, and who mark and care for The Way. We hope it will inspire others to undertake their own journeys.
Epigraph: There is a time for departure, even when there is no certain place to go. - Tennessee Williams
Midlife is when you reach the top of the ladder and find that it was against the wrong wall.- Joseph Campbell
Two Steps Onward
Melbourne
:
Text Publishing
,
2021
20489774
2021
single work
novel
'Three years after any hope for their transatlantic relationship fizzled out, Californian illustrator Zoe and Northern English engineer Martin have another opportunity to follow in the footsteps of pilgrims. This time they won’t be walking the well-travelled Camino but the Chemin d’Assise, the path from rural France to Rome.
'And this time, rather than each setting off solo in search of themselves, they will be together, accompanying Zoe’s outspoken college friend Camille—who, despite her terminal illness, insists she will walk all of the trail to seek an audience with the Pope at the end of the journey. And they will be accompanied by Martin’s daughter Sarah, whose own life may be about to fall to bits…
'Two Steps Onward is a wise, witty and wine-filled sequel to Graeme Simsion’s and Anne Buist’s bestseller about walking the Camino, Two Steps Forward. It is a novel about the challenge of walking a great distance to figure out what you really want. It’s about helping the people you love, and knowing when to let them go. Most of all, it’s about seizing the second chances life offers.' (Publication summary)
Two Steps Forward by Graeme Simsion and Anne Buist
Melbourne
:
CAE Book Group
,
2019
16682133
2019
single work
criticism
'The list of literary couples is a distinguished one: Percy and Mary Shelley, Virginia and Leonard Woolf, Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald, Simone de Beauvoir and Jean-Paul Sartre, to name a few. Curiously, none of the just-mentioned duos ever wrote and published a book together. Whether due to differing prose styles or competing egos — or both — cohabiting and co-writing is highly uncommon.' (Introduction)
'The list of literary couples is a distinguished one: Percy and Mary Shelley, Virginia and Leonard Woolf, Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald, Simone de Beauvoir and Jean-Paul Sartre, to name a few. Curiously, none of the just-mentioned duos ever wrote and published a book together. Whether due to differing prose styles or competing egos — or both — cohabiting and co-writing is highly uncommon.' (Introduction)
Two Steps Forward by Graeme Simsion and Anne Buist
Melbourne
:
CAE Book Group
,
2019
16682133
2019
single work
criticism
