AustLit

'Felix Schmidt is backpacking on the Camino de Santiago when he meets the love of his life, the beautiful French Pascaline. He brings her back to Australia where he joins a new firm of management consultants. Deeply engrossed in the company's growth, he neglects Pascaline. She believes his addiction has reduced him as a person, wearies of his obsessive workaholism and returns to France. Felix pines for his lost love, but as the company expands, he advances into management and is totally immersed. Disillusioned that ambition has seduced him to climb a ladder that leads to nowhere, that forces him to inflict pain and make decisions he abhors, he loathes the character he has become. Eventually, he quits his work. Once free of responsibility, he aims to win back Pascaline, but first he must work on himself to restore the former person before succumbing to distortion. With trepidation he returns to France, anxious about the person he will find in Pascaline.' (Publication summary)

'Noel Braun yearns to walk the Camino, the ancient pilgrimage route that leads across France and Spain to Santiago de Compostela. Since the suicide of Maris, his beloved wife of forty-two years, he has struggled to find himself. But is it pure madness? He's an old bloke. At seventy-seven-years, he should be sensible, act his age and relax in a rocking chair. Can his body and spirit withstand the demands? Can he leave family and friends behind? Noel believes this is a journey he MUST undertake. It's a compulsion, a spiritual quest of self-discovery, an urgent need to commune with the world around and beyond him. When Noel begins his journey, he discovers it's not just the rigorous demands of the physical world he must answer. The territory of the heart and soul has its own challenges, which have him searching for spiritual and emotional insights. His travels are interwoven with accounts of the many engaging characters he meets. In time he realises he himself is one of the Camino's characters. The Day Was Made for Walking merges the spiritual with the physical, the ancient with the contemporary. It is a memoir, but also a glimpse into history and a travel guide. About the Author Noel Braun commenced his working career as a country school teacher, then moved into a corporate career, which took him from Melbourne to Perth and Sydney. He has had a lifelong passion for writing and wrote the first words of his novels nearly forty years ago.' (Publication summary)

'After a childhood in the surf of Western Australia, Vince Kelly is enthused with a burning desire to save mankind and enters the Catholic priesthood. In contrast, his lifelong mate from the beaches, Jamie Griffiths, with no idea of his direction, drifts into a disastrous job and marriage. 

'Following his unwitting involvement in the death of Jamie’s mother, Vince suffers an emotional and spiritual crisis, which throws his whole life into chaos. Rock-solid foundations are shattered, doubt overtakes all his beliefs and challenges his once firmly held faith. He decides he must leave both Perth and the priesthood, travels across the desert to Sydney and settles in Manly where he hopes to find a new meaning. 

'As soon as he sees the quaint Federation house in Whistler Street, he knows it’s a suitable place for his recovery. He begins to rebuild his life, turns the house into a home, makes new friends and discoveries about himself but is plagued with indecision and guilt.

'Back in Perth Jamie has his own crisis. Already feeling guilty at abandoning Jamie in a time of need, Vince leaves his new friends in Manly to help him but knows that as soon as he later returns to Sydney he must make decisions about his own commitments.' (Publication summary)