Review: "Call of the Camino" by Suzanne Redfearn

Call of the Camino by Suzanne Redfearn
Published October 2025 via Lake Union Publishing
★★★★

Reina has long wanted to follow in her parents' footsteps and walk the Camino. And when a chance comes, she takes it—better yet, it's a chance to one-up a work rival. So off she goes in the present day...and meanwhile, in the 90s, another woman is setting off on her own, rather different, journey.

When I was preparing to walk the Camino, more than a decade(!) ago, I read everything I could get my hands on—which turned out to be almost exclusively memoirs plus the occasional more academic book. It's only recently that I've been seeing more Camino fiction, and I can't tell you how much joy I've gotten from that.

I didn't really check the details on this one before picking it up (because really, did I need to know anything other than Camino novel?), so it took me a moment to get used to the two timelines (I had it in my head that the book was about a few middle-aged friends walking together...I was wrong), but once I got used to that it was all go. One of the characters is from Andorra, which was a delight; I once went to Andorra la Vella as side trip from Barcelona, but I don't think I've ever read anything set there.

Some of the plot points didn't feel necessary to me (a few too many near-death experiences), but what I really loved was the way Redfearn's own experience on the Camino, and her respect for it, comes through. You don't have to have walked the Camino or really know anything about it in order to appreciate the book, but if you are familiar with the Camino, you'll recognize a lot of the moments Reina experiences here.

A minor note if you read this and are thinking about walking the Camino yourself: the Camino does not take a minimum of 33 days, as Reina claims; I walked from SJPdP in 30 days, I knew other people who walked the same distance in less time, and there are any number of starting points and routes that take different amounts of time. Don't let Reina's confident but ill-informed estimate put you off if you don't have a month or more!

Thanks to the author and publisher for providing a review copy through NetGalley.