A Parallel Path

2002. Waking up naked next to a man she barely knows, after a night out of which she has no recollection, Nastasha realises she has lost something she can never recover. And it’s not just her shoes. Running away, she ends up following the old pilgrim’s road from Arles to Santiago de Compostela, a 1,500 kilometre walk. But while walking helps her forget, she is troubled by disturbing dreams that seem to predict the future, and frightening visions of a boy crossing her path, in an apocalyptic landscape, in another time.

1348. First to come down with the plague, Dominic survives to find himself alone. Nowhere to go, he stays on to help at the infirmary in Avignon, where he feels increasingly lost and lonely. Blaming himself for his father’s death, he sets off to Santiago, where his mother abandoned him at birth 13 years ago, in the hope of finding out who she was, who he is, and where he belongs.

Though centuries apart, they share more than the unusual choice to go barefoot. More, in fact, than they may wish to find out...

Made in Greece, born in Holland, raised in Mexico and educated in Australia, Marco Peel finished his studies in Belgium to work in the Far East, Europe and the Carribean. A few years ago, he left his shoes at home to walk the Camino de Santiago. Architect and composer, he now lives in Spain with his wife and two sons. A Parallel Path is his first novel.