On the Primitive Way

For readers interested in the Camino de Santiago, travel memoirs, and stories of healing from addiction, and for anyone ready to be moved by this heart-warming tale of healing and reconciliation, “On the Primitive Way” will keep you turning the pages as the story deepens.

At first glance, Spring of 2013 couldn’t have been a more inopportune time for brothers Landon and Cory Roussel to walk the historic Camino de Santiago. Landon had a newborn child at home and had just completed medical school, ready to stay at home and relax with his new son before beginning residency. Cory, on the other hand, had just been released from Federal prison and had neither a job nor a penny to his name. On closer inspection, however, the time could not have been better for these two brothers, separated for over ten years by Cory’s addiction and imprisonment, to walk the Way of St James. After much to do with flight planning, route mapping and child-care arranging, these two brothers finally manage to get to Spain, where they embark together from Oviedo into the mountains of Asturias Spain on the Primitive Way to Santiago. As they encounter torrential rains, blindsiding blizzards and grueling climbs, the author comes to find that the real challenge is not to endure the elements but to reconcile with each other after a tumultuous past.

Will the two brothers reconcile? Or will they be driven further apart? Is healing possible after enduring such hurt from wounds inflicted by Cory’s addiction? These are some of the questions Landon wrestles with in this riveting tale as he chronicles their journey through the Asturian Mountains.

In this page-turning memoir, he captures not only their story but also the story of many who struggle to connect with loved ones when their loved ones fall down in life …”None of us are guaranteed a future with our loved ones,” he writes. “If we don’t cherish moments with them for what they are, we risk not cherishing our loved ones for who they are, but rather who we want them to be.” On the Primitive Way is a moving, heart-warming reflection on the challenge of loving someone close even as they struggle and of finding joy in each day’s journey.

Praise for “On the Primitive Way”:

"On the Primitive Way is the first Camino memoir to chronicle not only the Way of Saint James but also the way of two brothers: their separation, reuniting and healing on their pilgrimage."

--Martin Sheen, award-winning actor starring in The Way (2010)

"After eleven centuries of history, the pilgrimage still has the ability to work 'miracles.' This is what Cory and Landon experienced as pilgrims in On the Primitive Way. Passing the seven mountain passes that occur between Oviedo and Santiago, a metaphor for the difficulties in life they had to overcome, they were able to find at the end peace, true brotherhood and harmony with nature."

--Antón Pombo Rodriguez, best-selling author of Camino guidebooks

"If you've walked El Camino from Saint Jean, On the Primitive Way will make you want to walk it from Oviedo."

--Kurt Koontz, Author of A Million Steps

"On the Primitive Way is more than another Camino memoir, it is a story of two brothers, estranged by addiction and reconciled on the Way. Anyone who has had a family member or loved on suffering from addiction will relate to Landon's description of his struggle to love his brother even when he continues to fall deeper into substance abuse."

--Beatriz Gonzales-Stephan, Lee Hage Jamail Chair in Latin American Studies, Rice University

Bio

Landon Roussel is a three-time pilgrim on the Way of Saint James. He written articles on the Camino for magazines such as El Peregrino and La Concha. He was encouraged to write his first book, On the Primitive Way, after the death of his brother Cory, with whom he had walked the Camino just before he died. He also hosts a blog site, Communitas Blog. When he is not writing he is a primary care doctor and father of two. He lives with his wife in Saint James Parish, Louisiana with their two children.