Pilgrimage

The last thing Gebirga of Flanders remembers seeing is the argument between her parents that ended in her mother's death. In the years since, she has learned to negotiate her family's castle of Gistel as a blind woman but everyone assumes that one day her home will be the convent founded in her mother's honor. An accidental encounter offers another path, and Gebirga flees her callous family with a pack of pilgrims that includes a count's daughter bound for marriage, two clerics writing a guidebook, and a mysterious messenger with an unknown agenda, all headed along the pilgrimage road to Compostela. The journey takes Gebirga from her home on the edge of the North Sea across the kingdoms of France and into the Iberian Peninsula, where her mission to escort a young noblewoman becomes a dangerous adventure involving power-hungry kings and queens and even the Roman Pope. But can a blind woman navigate the shoals of international politics? To find a place where she can belong, Gebirga must learn there are other ways of seeing the truth than with her eyes. For the rest of twelfth-century Europe, Spain was a far-off and exotic place, home to the holy site of Compostela, shrine of Saint James. The saint's tomb drew a perpetual wave of pilgrims, coming for adventure, or seeking a miracle from the saint. Pilgrimage is the story of one of those pilgrims. At forty-nine, Celeste has long renounced the religion of her childhood. Yet she finds herself reluctantly accompanying her mother and sister to a pilgrimage site in Romania, where her devout mother seeks a miracle a cure for her terminal illness. As Celeste tries to come to terms with her mother's impending decline, she realises she has to confront the unspoken conflicts embedded in the foundations of her family. Away from her husband, she must also face her fear of what the future holds for them both. Full of compassion, warmth and grace, Pilgrimage is a powerful meditation on how our personal histories haunt us, and an affirmation of the hope and sustenance that may be found in our imperfect families. At forty-nine, Celeste has long renounced the religion of her childhood. Yet she finds herself reluctantly accompanying her mother and sister to a pilgrimage site in Romania, where her devout mother seeks a miracle — a cure for her terminal illness. As Celeste tries to come to terms with her mother's impending decline, she realises she has to confront the unspoken conflicts buried in the foundations of her family. Away from her husband, she must also face her fear of what the future holds for them both. Full of compassion, warmth and grace, Pilgrimage is a powerful meditation on how our personal histories haunt us, and an affirmation of the hope and sustenance that may be found in our imperfect families. At forty-nine, Celeste has long renounced the religion of her childhood. Yet she finds herself reluctantly accompanying her mother and sister to a pilgrimage site in Romania, where her devout mother seeks a miraclea cure for her terminal illness. As Celeste tries to come to terms with her mother's impending decline, she realizes she has to confront the unspoken conflicts embedded in the foundations of her family. Away from her husband, she must also face her fear of what the future holds for them both. Full of compassion, warmth and grace, Pilgrimage is a powerful meditation on how our personal histories haunt us, and an affirmation of the hope and sustenance that may be found in our imperfect families At forty-nine, Celeste has long renounced the religion of her childhood. Yet she finds herself reluctantly accompanying her mother and sister to a pilgrimage site in Romania, where her devout mother seeks a miracle - a cure for her terminal illness. As Celeste tries to come to terms with her mother's impending decline, she realised she has to confront the unspoken conflicts buried in the foundations of her family. Away from her husband, she must also face her fear of what the future holds for them both