The way of stars and stones

2010 is the Holy Year of the Camino and over 2 million people from all over the world are expected to partake in this annual pilgrimage. The Camino, a life changing walk, is the subject of Wilna Wilkinson's book. The Way Of Stars and Stones offers common-sense advice and information as well as spiritual guidance: an overlap of history and personal observation, of perception and of reality, of deep thought and light humour. When a close friend is stricken with cancer, the author has no answers on how to cope with the situation and this feeling of helpless ineffectiveness drives her to find a challenge as close as possible to the battle against an incurable disease. Walking the 850km of the Camino, the pilgrimage of Santiago de Compostela, turns out to be exactly that. On a physical as well as a mental level the Camino is a more demanding and difficult challenge than any she had ever had to face in her privileged life. This is the spiritual journey of a woman who chooses to walk alone, in the heart of winter, but who generously takes the reader by the hand to share the experience. She introduces you to her fellow-pilgrims and fellow travellers. She pulls you into these pilgrims' discussions, lets you eavesdrop on their confessions and listen to their points of view, she cries with you when you learn their inspirational stories, she laughs with you when their humour fills the refuge dormitories.