Two Steps forward is a collaborative narrative between husband and wife writer team Graeme Samson and Anne Buist. Zoe and Martin are two strangers of a pilrammage walking the Camino, two thousand kilometres from Cluny in France to Santiago in Spain. Both are walking for different reasons, Zoe to find herself after the death of her husband and Martin testing a prototype he hopes to sell to the highest bidder. The walk changes you, they are told. Just how the much the reader journeys along to find out.
I loved the idea of this book, two characters finding themselves and each other. Zoe’s voce written by Buist and Martin’s by Graeme’s. Each chapter alternating between the two. The chapter switches by the authors are seamless and if I didn’t know was written by two people I may not have noticed. Both Zoe and Martin are compelling characters and I found myself fascinated and personally invested in their personal journeys, hoping desperately that they would come together in the end.
I am also a sucker for a good walking journey. Wild is a personal favourite of mine and Two Steps Forward also hit the spot perfectly. As a reader you have pre-conceived ideas of the path that this novel will follow and I’m please to say that the story does surprise you and does not fall into a predictable path. Any sentimentality is saved for the end (right when the reader craves it). This was a super fun and easy read that I guarantee will leave you desperate to walk the Camino yourself. I do recommend picking it up and getting lost in these beautiful characters and epic scenery.
