Walking Home

Sonia Choquette made her living guiding others through intuition, yet she did not see the worst years of her own life coming. Over about three years she lost two close family members without warning, watched her marriage fall apart, and was betrayed by colleagues she had trusted. Instead of comfort, she often got scorn from people who wondered how someone in her line of work could have been blindsided.

Walking Home is her answer to that question. Choquette argues that a gift for intuition does not shield anyone from grief or from the ordinary human failings of anger, resentment, and pride, which can pull even a devoted seeker off course. Feeling lost, she turned to one of the oldest remedies there is and set out on pilgrimage along the Camino de Santiago, an 820-kilometer route that climbs over the Pyrenees and crosses northern Spain.

The walk was punishing. She describes pushing on through hunger, exhaustion, and physical pain, step after step, until the struggle itself began to give way to something gentler. Along the way she found humility and forgiveness, the two things she most needed to start rebuilding her life. She also records the surprises that carried her through her lowest moments: unexpected kindness, laughter, striking scenery, and the company of fellow travelers.

Though the journey is hers alone, Choquette presents what she learned as something any reader can use. It comes down to honoring your relationships with other people and with your own higher self, and letting go of grievances about everything else.