The Promised Land - Elizabeth Musser

You'd be surprised at what gets through when everything else is taken away.

Abbie Jowett is a hyper-energetic person who likes to be in control to the point where it is suffocating her husband and sons.  When her oldest son says he is taking a gap year in Europe, and her husband announces that he is ‘taking a break’ and leaves for Chicago, the smart new apartment she had so many plans for remains full of untouched boxes while she tries to work out what to do.  

She makes the decision to follow her son Bobby to walk the Camino de Santiago, and heads to Europe.  Bobby is initially very unenthusiastic about his mother’s pending arrival, but the Camino is going to be a place of change for both of them, as well as for a number of people they meet along the way.

 

This is another beautifully told story from Elizabeth Musser.  Abbie is a complex person whose nature grew from neat and organising into ever more controlling behaviour as a result of events in her past.  Her transformative experience on the Camino is believably written – and I wonder how many readers will be mentally shouting at her at points along the way!  Bobby, meanwhile, is finding his gap year is bringing pressures of increasing responsibility rather than the escape he’d hoped it would be.  The captivating Rasa, and Caroline, a journalist struggling with a bitter loss, round out the cast of wonderful characters. 

A perfect escapist yet thoughtful read for a chilly winter evening.

 

9780764234453, Bethany House

For transparency, I was sent an advance copy of this book, but I was not required to write any specific or favourable review. All views herein are my own.