Two Steps Onward

by Graeme Simsion, Anne Buist

Overview

Internationally bestselling husband-and-wife writing team, Graeme Simsion and Anne Buist return with another smart, romantic adventure set on another of Europe’s incredible pilgrimages. TWO STEPS ONWARD is the wise and witty follow-up to TWO STEPS FORWARD. It’s about helping the people you love, and knowing when to let go. Figuring out what you really want in life. And seizing your chances, before it’s too late.

Three years after life got in the way of their long-distance relationship, Californian artist Zoe and English engineer Martin have an unexpected opportunity to reunite: a second chance to follow in the footsteps of pilgrims in Europe. This time, they won’t be walking the famous Camino de Santiago to north-west Spain but the less-travelled Chemin d’Assise and Via Francigena to Rome, along the mountainous paths from rural France. And rather than each setting off solo, they will accompany Zoe’s old friend Camille—who, despite her life-threatening illness, insists she will walk the whole 1000 miles to seek an audience with the Pope—and her not-so-ex-husband, Gilbert, who sees the trip as a gourmet tour.

Then Bernhard, Martin’s young nemesis from the previous trek, shows up, along with Martin’s daughter, Sarah, who is having a quarter-life crisis and doesn’t exactly hit it off with Zoe...

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781922458865
Publisher:	Text Publishing Company
Publication date:	01/03/2023
Pages:	368
Product dimensions:	5.00(w) x 7.70(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Graeme Simsion Anne Buist are the authors of Two Steps Forward. Graeme is the internationally bestselling author of The Rosie Project and its sequels. Anne is the author of the psychological thriller The Long Shadow, and is Professor of Women’s Mental Health at the Universityof Melbourne. They live in Melbourne.

Editorial Reviews

'Sleepless in Seattle meets Wild . . . A beautifully crafted tale of love, self-acceptance, and blisters.'—Sunday Express on Two Steps Forward

‘A much more intimate navigation of romantic love, friendly and familial, with a smaller coterie of characters but just as much heart.’—New Daily

'Charming and absorbing' —Daily Mail on Two Steps Forward

‘Simsion and Australian psychiatrist Buist have written an insightful study of loss, grief, and the possibility of romance after.’—Library Journal on Two Steps Forward

‘Funny and heartwarming, a gem of a book.’—Marian Keyes on The Rosie Project

‘An extraordinarily clever, funny, and moving book about being comfortable with who you are and what you’re good at. I’m sending copies to several friends and hope to re-read it later this year. This is one of the most profound novels I’ve read in a long time.’—Bill Gates on The Rosie Project

From the Publisher

2022-10-12
After one of them is diagnosed with a terminal illness, friends and lovers reconnect as they take on a pilgrimage to Rome.

Three years ago, Zoe, an American cartoonist from San Francisco, and Martin, an English engineer from Sheffield, met and fell in love while walking the Camino de Santiago de Compostela from France to Western Spain. Ultimately, Zoe couldn’t give up her life in America, and they parted as friends. Now, Zoe is back in France, about to take another journey with her college friend Camille, who has just found out she has multiple sclerosis. This time, they’ll be walking the Chemin d’Assise to Rome, where Camille hopes to see the pope. Thanks to some miscommunication, they're joined by Martin; his 20-year-old daughter, Sarah; and Bernhard, a college student who walked the Camino with them. Gilbert, Camille’s now not-so-ex-husband, is also along for the hike. With almost a thousand miles to go to Rome, there’s plenty of time for relationships to grow and wither while feelings long unspoken make their ways to the surface. In this follow-up to Two Steps Forward (2018), the husband-and-wife writing team of Simsion and Buist again divide the book into alternating chapters told from Zoe's and Martin’s points of view. Unfortunately, most of Zoe's and Martin’s character growth happened in the previous book, and characters with weightier journeys, such as Sarah, Camille, and Gilbert, are tragically overlooked. An emphasis, for better or for worse, is put on practicality when it comes to emotions, and that seems to sum up most of the writing: The bones of the story are there, but the feelings surrounding them seem to be stripped away. The descriptions of the towns and inns the characters stay in along the way are vivid, but the pilgrims themselves are drab.

A scenic yet tepid tale.

Kirkus Reviews