Two Steps Forward

By: Graeme Simsion, Anne Buist

Narrated by: Simon Slater, Penelope Rawlins

Length: 10 hrs and 5 mins

Publisher's Summary

A romantic comedy from Graeme Simsion, author of The Rosie Project, and his wife Anne Buist.

Two misfits walk 2000 km along the pilgrims' way in Spain to find themselves and, perhaps, each other.

Zoe, a sometime artist, is from California. Martin, an engineer, is from Yorkshire. Both have ended up in picturesque Cluny, in central France. Both are struggling to come to terms with their recent past - for Zoe, the death of her husband; for Martin, a messy divorce. Looking to make a new start, each sets out alone to walk 2000 kilometres from Cluny to Santiago, in northwestern Spain, in the footsteps of pilgrims who have walked the Camino-the Way-for centuries.

The Camino changes you, it's said. It's a chance to find a new version of yourself. But can these two very different people find each other? In this smart, funny and romantic journey, Martin's and Zoe's stories are told in alternating chapters by husband-and-wife team Graeme Simsion and Anne Buist.

Two Steps Forward is an audiobook about renewal - physical, psychological and spiritual. It's about the challenge of walking a long distance and of working out where you are going. And it's about what you decide to keep, what you choose to leave behind and what you rediscover.

Soon to be a film produced by Ellen DeGeneres.

©2018 Graeme Simsion, 2018 Anne Buist (P)2018 John Murray Press

couldn't stop listening to it.

amazing ! fell in love with the characters and story and their journey on the camino was full of lessons to be learnt, love and reward. a read feel good and essential for anyone going on camino due to the descriptions of locations too

A New Favourite

I must be one of the few people who didn’t get on with The Rosie Project by the author, but wanted to try this book because of the Camino de Santiago. I haven’t walked the Camino, but have always been interested in it after coming across a monastery in the Pyrenees that had a wine tap on it’s wall for pilgrims to drink from. I’ve also seen The Way film with Martin Sheen and James Nesbit a couple of times, and I loved Simon Reeve’s Pilgrim documentary for the BBC.
I liked Zoe straight away, although I did think she was incredibly naive when she parted with 200 euros for a silver scallop pendant at the beginning of her Camino and dreaded to think what else she was going to fall victim to next . I warmed to Martin the other main character and ended up quite liking him as his character developed along the way.
I loved Penelope Rawlins narration enjoying every chapter immensely as I journeyed with Zoe along the route. Would she walk all the way to Santiago de Compostela in northern Spain or would she just walk until St. Pied to Port in southern France?
I loved meeting all the different characters along the way, the Australian couple, the fun Brazilians, the Spanish 6, the newbie Americans and even Bernhard the annoying German.
A perfect holiday listen that I’ll definitely be listening to again.

Refreshing

Loved it! Good story, well read. Very entertaining, I good there will be a follow up.

A virtual walk of the Camino de Santiago

The central characters, American Zoe & British Martin, start walking the Camino de Santiago for different personal reasons but from the very start their paths are set to become intertwined.

For those who don't know, the Camino de Santiago is the routes followed by pilgrims from medieval times to the Spanish city of Santiago where the remains of St James rest.

This is a lovely story with chapters alternating between the viewpoints of Zoe & Martin.

I have to admit that when I first started listening I wasn't sure about the narrators but changed my mind as the story continued.

The description of the Camino routes were vivid and you actually felt you could visualise the scenes.

All in all an enjoyable listen

A Very Enjoyable Read

This was a long shot for me as I was not sure it would be enjoyable. However, I was wrong. The characters were engaging from the beginning and the story of the Chemin and Camino were interesting and informing. Good narration and an all round good listen. Worth a shot.

A good listen

An optimistic but not clichéd narrative. It did seem overlong. Zoe and Martin had an excess of extreme misunderstandings. The last few chapters were the best so don't give up! It's no match for "Rosie" but worth listening to.
The male narration was better than the female, probably because it didn't include embarrassing accents.

Listening to this was like being on The Chemin

I wanted to like this book and gave it more chance than others because of my love of the Rosie project, but I found it slow and laborious.

So the story is about 2 characters doing The Chemin, also known as the Camino de Santiago, is a centuries-old pilgrim route that ends in Santiago de Compostela. They both have their own demons and that's why they are doing the walk. They meet some interesting characters on the way and work out why they are walking.

As they were not giving up their walk, I wasn't going to give up the book but it was sure was a struggle.

imspiring

i enjoyed the rosie project but simsion excells here. i laughed and cried - a true test of a good book.

great story

Really enjoyable story. Great to hear from the male and female perspective. Loved walking with them in my imagination.

Loved the story

The story was great and so was the narration. On both counts I liked the dual voices. I found the American attempt at the English accent slightly off putting, but on the whole I really liked this audio book.