Review: "Under a Spanish Sky" by T.A. Williams

Under a Spanish Sky by T.A. Williams
Published September 2025 via Boldwood Books
★★★

2016: Amy and Luke are taking a slow road trip across Spain, loosely following the (or rather, a) pilgrimage route to Santiago. They're traveling together out of necessity rather than fully free choice, but something pulls them together.

1314: Aimee and Luc are taking the slow route across Spain, slipping on and off the (or rather, a) pilgrimage route to Santiago. They were not the ones meant to be making this trip, but necessity bands them together...and something else pulls at them too.

Now. I cannot resist a Camino book. I have tried, and I have failed, and frankly I no longer try. And this one is interesting for a couple of reasons: First, the parallel story. I've read very little Camino fiction (when I originally looked for some, I could find precious little other than some pulpy-looking murder mysteries, and it turned out that I was able to resist those), but the little fiction I have read has been entirely contemporary; the one other historical novel I have on my Camino shelf is not even about the Camino, and I read it because it was about a different pilgrimage and that was the closest I could get at the time. Although my fourteenth-century history is not exactly stellar (and for the most part I prefer contemporary fiction anyway), it's clear that research went into this, and I enjoyed both the historical details—especially the info about the Templars—and the contrast between now and then.

The second thing that is interesting is that both Amy and Aimee are blind, and relatively recently so. I was a little disappointed that the contemporary story did not involve a more traditional pilgrimage (that is: walking), as that would have added another dimension. But I come at this from a biased place (I miss the Camino), and I got over that disappointment fairly quickly while reading. It helps, of course, that the 1314 story is on foot! In any case, nice to have blind main characters: they experience the world from a different perspective than Luke and Luc, and they're both quick to establish that while there are things that others can help with, they're neither incompetent nor helpless.

A few quibbles: First, Luke's backstory is a Dramatic Backstory that doesn't serve much purpose other than to give him, well, a Dramatic Backstory. It might have worked if there had been more follow-up on it, but it kind of drops off the face of the earth Finisterre, and we're left in the dark about how his career (among other things) will move forward, and what that means for him and Amy. It's a weak spot in a well-crafted story. And second, there are odd comments here and there that either rub wrong (Luke's friend asking, ahead of time, if he'll be able to "cope" with escorting a very attractive woman—what, has this man no self-control?—or Amy assuring the reader that she had a friend make sure that Luke was good-looking before she agreed to travel with him...it took many chapters for her to regain my respect) or just don't make sense (Amy's comment about her "guardians," who are never mentioned again and who have no place in the life of a fully competent adult woman). They aren't dealbreakers, but they were headscratchers. I also couldn't quite decide how I felt about the way the storylines intersect—clever or contrived?—but on the whole it worked for me.

A satisfying addition to my Camino library.

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