The Camino by Anya Niewierra

Emil and Lotte are a 40something couple living on the border of the Netherlands with Germany/Belgium. She is a chocolatier working out of her home. Emil is a bit of a stay at home dad to their two sons. She is a Dutch national. He was born in Bosnia in the early 1980s. After a stint in a Bosnian militia during the breakup of Yugoslavia, he emigrated to Germany with his lifelong friend Paul. Together, Emil and Paul meet Carol (? can't recall her name) and Lotte. It's love at first sight for Paul and Carol, producing a daughter. Not so much for Emil and Lotte, but when Lotte gets pregnant, they decide to get married. The two families are best friends and live a mostly uncomplicated life outside of South Limburg in the Netherlands. 

More backstory is needed to set up the book: Carol dies of cancer leaving Paul to raise his daughter.  Emil is diagnosed with stomach cancer that he manages to beat. As part of Emil's recovery, he decides to solo hike a portion of the infamous Camino de Santiago, a legendary trek across the border of Spain and France. He begins his trek a year before the book open. Emil expects to be gone for 10-14 days. He begins his trek a year before the book opens. On day 9 or 10,  Lotte is notified by the local police that Emil has committed suicide. After Emil's death, Paul and daughter move in with Lotte and her boys. 

And here is where the book begins. 

As part of her grieving process, Lotte decides to duplicate Emil's trek. Same schedule and same housing plans eventually arriving at the location where Emil took his own life. She's trying to come to some better understanding of what led to Emil's fatal decision. In her preparations, she also wants to learn more about Emil's Bosnian past that he has been reluctant to divulge. She learns about a lawyer (Bosnian? Serb? Croatian? can't recall) who specializes in finding people lost or missing after that war. 

As you can imagine, a story like this is going to be a day by day (and in some instances, hour by hour) recounting of the hike, the people she meets, the B and B's where she stays, the food, the wine, the flowers, the smells, the people she meets, etc. Lots of descriptive prose to go along with her own internal dialogue. The major issue is that most every other day on her hike, there is either a fatality or a near miss. A woman falls, a dog is poisoned, a runaway car narrowly missed Lotte, someone dies in their sleep, is someone following her. And there is this former war correspondent on the trail that is a willing ear and shoulder for Lotte's recovery.

This book is the 2025 English translation from the original 2022 Dutch novel. Couldn't find much online, but apparently the author is quite a big deal in Europe. Multiple best sellers and awards. The Camino is being made into a TV series. Looks like her latest book was a #1 best seller the day it was released. Guessing she's got a devoted following. 

Can't say I'm listed amongst those so devoted. Long drawn out descriptions of what she sees are not my cup of tea. Guess I need stories that move along a little more briskly. I will admit that once the dominoes that make up Emil's past begin to tumble, the pace of the story picked up and held my interest, but I had to get through 75% of the book first, and for me that was a chore. 

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