The Promised Land

September 28, 2020
Characters from Musser’s The Long Highway Home return in this touching story of four pilgrims walking the French Camino. Abbie Jowett has always micromanaged her life, but when her sons graduate from high school and her husband decides he needs a break from their marriage, she loses all sense of control. Meanwhile, her son Bobby is traveling during a gap year and in Vienna meets Rasa, a former Iranian refugee who captures his heart. When he asks Rasa to join him on the Camino, Rasa is reluctant, but agrees to join once Abbie decides to embark the pilgrimage as well as be their chaperone. Also along for the trek is Bobby’s friend Caroline Lefort, who makes the trip to report on the Camino and take photos for an online paper. She is a woman without faith, still reeling from the disappearance of her best friend seven years earlier. Walking the Camino challenges all of them to face the pain in their hearts and teaches them important lessons on community, friendship, and trust in God. While this works as a standalone, readers will only fully appreciate the arc of the characters if they’ve read The Long Highway Home. Karen Kingsbury fans will want to take a look.