Loved this. Written in alternative chapters one from Zoe’s and the other from Martin’s perspectives the book follows their journies and those of whom they meet along the way. “Only two things are certain, blisters and you will cry” “The Camino will change you” Great writing, great stories , and excellent character development as The Camino does indeed change them

An interesting read and not at all what I was expecting. The main characters of Zoe & Martin are well-developed and I was interested to follow their story as it unfolded. There are many other characters who you meet along the way and some I found did not become clear individually. The details of the gruelling walk and hardship faced amongst great camaraderie were quite heartwarming.

It's inevitable to bring expectations to a book, especially when one of the author's previous titles is The Rosie Project, which I loved. Two Steps Forward sounded intriguing, especially given the setting of the Camino. My mother and aunt walked part of the Camino a few years ago and talked a lot about it so I was interested in a different perspective.

Two individuals, Zoe and Martin, set off from Cluny in France. Both have different reasons for walking the route - Zoe is reeling from the sudden death of her husband and Martin road-testing his design for a cart but also recovering from a divorce and struggling to connect with his daughter.

The Chemin/Camino will change you, they are promised...but what will both find along and at the end of the way?

This is very atmospheric and one of those books where you read just one more chapter...yes, it was 2am when I finished!

I absolutely loved this book, it tells us the story of two people crossing the Camino - Zoe and Martin. Both are walking for different reasons and both have a lot of issues to resolve.

Their paths cross before they set off on the walk, and entwine along the way. It’s not a soppy love story but there is a hint of romance along the way, as well as them resolving their personal issues and discovering more about themselves.

This was well written and wrote in the style of Zoe and Martins journeys, it is easy to read between the two and I found that I just wanted to keep on reading to find out how their journeys ended.

A late life love story complete with misunderstandings and coincidences. The main two characters spring from the page fully formed, but the real star of this book is the Camino pilgrimage. The descriptions of the walk make you long to be there, despite the weather, blisters and aching limbs.

Two steps forward is a book that s going to be hard to review.
I really wanted to love this book as like "the Rosie project" I think it will be a big seller but for me it just didn't do it for me....sorry.
This book follows the pilgrims way which the two main characters start in Cluny, France to Santiago de Compostela, Spain. Zoe is American and has just lost her husband and Martin is trying to get over his divorce so are both very different characters. The book alternates chapters from either Martins or Zoes perspective, which was nice to get an insight into how by walking the trail they were able to come to terms with their situations. There was quite a few funny moments but the start was very slow I found.
Although on the whole I didn't dislike this book but I didn't love it either, I found the beginning slow, and although it must be a major part of the walk I found that the search for accommodation and food was quite repetitive and found I was skim reading those parts. The research that has gone into this book really shows though in this well written book.
I would like to thank Netgalley and John Murray Press, Two Roads for this ARC I received in exchange for an honest review.

As someone who is going to attempt this (or part 0f!) pilgrims walk next year, I was so looking forward to reading this and it certainly lived up to my expectations and more. Glad it didn't focus too much on the religious element and more on the personal journeys and different reasons people take to this very challenging route. I felt as if I was taking each step with them (apart from the blisters!!). Made me more determined to do this now.

As this wasn't a viable copy, I cannot offer a review.

Graeme Simsion lives in all our hearts for the two Rosie books – The Rosie Project and The Rosie Effect, both on the blog; I also very much enjoyed The Best of Adam Sharp last year. This new one is written jointly with his wife – it follows the story of a man and a woman, and the two authors may have written alternating chapters, as each POV follows on.

Martin and Zoe both end up walking the Camino to Santiago de Compostela, almost by accident, and the book tells their stories. The pilgrimage across northern Spain is becoming increasingly well-known and popular, with roughly a thousand people a day completing it in current times. Travellers are following a path that, as Zoe says above, has been used for a thousand years. You can start the pilgrimage wherever you want: that’s what defines your pilgrimage. These two both start out from central France, Cluny, which is a relatively long version. They do not walk together for most of the trip – they meet up and move apart on a regular basis and they have (slightly annoying) misunderstandings. Both have issues they are trying to work out: problems in the past, relationships with others. The walk gives them time to think.





I loved the book: there was a way in which you knew what was going to happen (mud, bad weather, problems, joyous moments, spiritual wakefulness) but that didn’t make it any less enjoyable, and there were also surprises along the way: particularly the turn of fate for Martin and others in his final section of the pilgrimage. But it was joyous, charming, touching, and very obviously based on the reality of the walk.

One member of my family has done the Camino many times and along many routes, and another member of my family once accompanied him. I am never likely to join them, ever, but having heard their travellers’ tales I feel I have a good amateur knowledge of the Camino. And so I very strongly recommend this book for anyone, but particularly for anyone who might be interested in doing the Camino, or just finding out more about it. And I will use up the rest of the space with these personal pictures from their journeys: with thanks as ever to TKR, the photographer.

I loved this uplifting read. The amusing story of how Martin and Zoe first meet and then eventually walk together was both charming and heartwarming. The wonderful array of characters and the descriptions of the beautiful scenery add to the enjoyment of this terrific book.. Highly recommended.

Thought-provoking and quite enjoyable
I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
I should start off by stating that this is really not my usual genre for reading but I found it quite enjoyable. This novel is based around the Camino de Santiago and two main characters walking it separately and not having planned on doing so. Zoe is a recently-widowed American with two daughters visiting a friend near Cluny and Martin is an recently-divorced English engineer and designer. Along the way, they meet an assortment of characters from all over the world, all with their own problems, hoping that the Camino will help them.
This is perhaps suitable for the chick-lit generation as it includes romance and a lot of self-reflection. It is easily told in alternative chapters, narrated by the two main protagonists and is reasonably engaging. Quite good but not really my cup of tea.

An excellent and unconventional story of two very different people who walk the Camino for very different reasons. Martin, English engineer using the Camino to test his profile buggy, leaving behind a divorce and troubled teenage daughter and Zoe an American artist newly widowed and searching for a way forward for her life. Walking independently with their paths crossing intermittently, the story is told alternately by them both,describing their trials and tribulations while at the same time building a heartening picture of the others they meet along the way.
By the end of their walk they hope to have learnt more about themselves and be able to move forward with their lives. The big question is whether they will have a future together!
Written from experience, the authors have fictionalized their own journeys and have produced a rounded, engaging and very readable novel. Highly recommended.

I loved this book.
I often find I identify with a character in a book, in this one it was Zoe; disorganised, brave, optimistic, and a widow, and as the story progressed I found we had even more in common than I first thought - so I was very interested in how she would end up.
The story of Zoe and Martin, told separately and together, their paths sometimes touching, and matching, sometimes far apart, was an entrancing one.
The book was uplifting - and I don’t know when I enjoyed a read so much!

Two Steps Forward is a story of adventure, self discovery and learning the limits of your body. Following in the footsteps of two pilgrims, Martin and Zoe who are both walking the Pilgrims way from Cluny in France to Santiago de Compostela in Spain. They both have their own reasons for walking and find their paths crossing.
The book is a great read, It gives in insight into the Camino and why people walk it. The different characters we come across show the diversity of the pilgrims on the way and how they bond together. The story of how Martin and Zoe come to meet and then depend on each other is told in a moving way. I would recommend this book, but it will make you want to go and walk the way yourself

When I started reading this book I was a little surprised because, to be honest, I knew it's going to be about walking, but I haven't supposed that it's going to be that much about walking. There were really moments that I felt frustrated and the story felt very slow as it mostly focused on the way, on counting the kilometres, on spotting the right sign and I really thought for a moment that maybe Graeme Simsion has turned into non - fiction. But deep, deep under all the descriptions of the places, finding accommodation and what to have for dinner and being on the road, there is a lovely, poignant and moving love story that I incredibly adored.

I think I liked Zoe's part better. Zoe herself was quirkier and cheekier than Martin, and full of life, and the chapters told from her point of view just read better. She's recently widowed and she hasn't grieved her husband fully yet. His sudden and unexpected death has brought some surprises. She's also an aspiring artist but what with life getting in the way her career was aborted. Dr Martin Eden has just divorced, taken a temporary teaching position in Cluny and after a chance encounter with a Dutch pilgrim he's designed a pilgrim cart that he's going to test himself, hoping to sell the design. So some hikers are on the spiritual journey and some are avoiding it but all of them learn on the way what real love and friendship is.

This book starts slowly and continues rather slowly but it has plenty of brilliant moments and characters, and in the end I found myself incredibly attached to the two main characters. It also introduces us to many background characters and while mostly they accompany Zoe and Martin on their way, they appear and disappear, come and go, and almost till the end I had problems to know who is who and to whom they belong. Sure, they all have their own stories - they wouldn't walk the Camino otherwise, and they were mostly engaging, but next to the whole walking and the plots of Zoe and Martin there were moments that it was just too much to take.

The banter between the characters was great and it livened up the story so very much. There are tons of misunderstandings and miscommunications, jumping to conclusions and secrets and it all flow so effortlessly and seems so natural. As the story is told through Zoe and Martin's perspectives it's really easy to keep pace with their distinctive voices and to know where they're actually are and what they're thinking.

The "spiritual aspect" of this journey is very well handled. The authors give their characters a choice. They show that being a pilgrim is not always only about religion, that there are many different and equally important reasons to start such journey. The authors' experience with this way of pilgrimage is evident, and at the end of the book they did admit that they themselves walked the Camino twice, and it's visible through their vivid descriptions and their love to the details, the descriptions of the many villages and places of accommodation.

Altogether "Two Steps Forward" was a brilliant, uplifting and warm read about life - changing experience, about finding your own way, and also about kindness. There is plenty of humour and the characters' problems are very down - to - earth, which makes the reading even more relatable. It shows that sometimes it's better to look at your problems through a different perspective, that sometimes it's great to trust total strangers. Highly recommended!

Two Steps Forward is an interesting concept: a novel written by two authors in alternating chapters. The two narrative streams follow two walkers along the Camino Frances pilgrim trail through France and Spain.

Martin Eden, an Englishman, has recently lost his wife, his house, his job and his money. He is a stubborn man who is quite prepared to cut off his own nose to spite his face, seeking to walk the 2038 km of the pilgrimage to prove the durability of his “buggy”, a wheeled alternative to a rucksack. Meanwhile, back at home, his daughter is quietly going off the rails. And Zoe Witt, an American, is recently widowed, her husband having killed himself to avoid his impending business collapse. Zoe also has no money and is walking the pilgrimage as a pretext for visiting a slight friend, Camille, who lives in Paris. Zoe is conservative and socially compliant.

So Martin and Zoe fully conform to ethnic stereotypes.

The story is that the two protagonists’ journeys keep overlapping but, owing to a series of slapstick misunderstandings they never quite manage to come together in the romantic union that they both so clearly want. It is not a complex story and the reader does wonder quite why it takes so many pages to tell.

The reason for the length and slow pace is the faithful recording of every town and village along the route, every vista, every ditch and every pothole. Meals are described with the affection that can only be truly experienced by those who have eaten them; guesthouse owners remembered for their favours and slights. There is a cast of many fellow pilgrims: loud Brazilians; Spaniards; a gauche German engineer; a handful of Americans. There are petty bureaucrats handing out credentials that need stamping, then handing out the stamps and declaring all the local dormitories full. I am sure this is authentic and the sense of place does come through with strength (Graeme Simsion and Anne Buist have walked the route themselves), but after a while it does feel as though the story is being stretched to fit the route.

The really strange thing about the novel is the similarity in the two narrative voices. You would think that having two separate writers telling the stories of two quite different characters the challenge would be making them fit in the same cover. But no, the voices were near identical and most of the narration was straight observation that did not allow Martin and Zoe’s characters to shine through. But even then, both characters were financially straitened, had difficult family situations at home, and had an entrepreneurial spirit. Their similarities were greater than their differences. This did, then, feel like one long story rather than two shorter, inter-leaved stories and that was not necessarily a good thing.

Overall this was a reasonable novel. There were moments that make the reader smile – rather than laugh out loud. The writing is good and clear. It is difficult to find a specific fault with anything. There is a feelgood ending – but the journey to get there did feel a bit arduous.

I absolutely loved Graeme Simsion’s The Rosie Project and I hoped this romantic travel adventure traversing famous European pilgrimage the Camino would tick the same boxes. But Two Steps Forward is a different novel, it’s less a laugh-out-loud fun-fest and more a story of quiet self-reflection, slow-building romance and natural beauty, but it excels in its own right.

Zoe and Martin are both at a crossroads in their lives when they find themselves at Cluny, and separately decide to embark on walking the Camino. It’s a traditionally religious route, but they both decide to tackle the trail for their own diverse reasons. While the two set off from the same start point, they’re not together and they make their own journeys told through alternating chapters from each character’s point of view.

As each journeys across France and Spain, the authors also take us on a journey through the characters’ pasts. Both are middle-aged, Martin is recently divorced and Zoe widowed, and the two have their own troubles to work through on their journey. But their paths keep crossing, and along the way they meet an array of colourful, entertaining characters from across the globe who pepper the book with humour and heart.

This book didn’t capture me as much as Simsion’s debut; it’s slow-moving and it took me a while to connect with the characters at the heart of it. But the element of travel adds another dimension; the Camino – which I had never previously heard of – was a fascinating journey to follow and the book captures the scenery and characters found along the trail wonderfully. I think perhaps the heart of the story – Zoe and Martin – was a little lost for me within the lengthy descriptions of the journey itself, but that may just be me. It was still a lovely, warming read and a great change of pace for me.

Graeme Simsion and Anne Buist (alternate chapters) have managed to tell the story of walking the Camino from two completely different perspectives, but with the flow of a book written by one author. Usually I am not a fan of books by duel authors, often finding them almost disjointed, but this was a pleasant surprise.

The two main characters, Zoe and Martin, end up walking the Camino for completely different reasons, but are both similar in their stubbornness and need to put up barriers. The initial distrust can be a little frustrating, but builds to a good suspense throughout the book of whether either of them will ever solve their issues or even finish the Camino.

This book is not my usual type of genre, but it kept me gripped to the end and almost wanting to walk the Camino! Would definitely recommend.

A cleverly written book by Graeme Simsion (Rosie Project) and his wife Anne Buist who have twice walked the Camino and have based this book on some of their experiences and people they have met according to the information at the end.

The book is written in alternate chapters by Graeme and Anne voicing the two main characters Zoe and Martin, who both find themselves in Cluny and both decide to walk the Camino. There the similarities end. Zoe is a widow from the USA trying to find some meaning in her life, and Martin is a divorcee from the UK trying to show that a bag he has designed will survive the terrain.

Initially both start with a distrust of the other, but over time things change. There is a lot of detail about the walk from France through Spain to the end of the route, but this does not detract from the story, but rather enhances it.

A really enjoyable story as we have come to expect of Graeme Simsion.

I tend to avoid books that are written by two authors. However, I loved The Rosie Project so thought that I'd give this a go.
This tells the story of couple, Zoe and Martin, who meet while travelling the pilgrims walk from France to Spain. Each chapter switches between each of the characters and it works much better thank I expected.