Reading order
| # | Title | Published | Author | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Pilgrimage | 2023 | J.F. Penn | Buy |
Pilgrimage was published in 2023 after Penn spent three years walking alone on historic routes across Britain and Europe. The book won Best Non-Fiction/Memoir at the 2024 London Book Fair Selfie Awards. It is part personal narrative and part practical handbook, moving between Penn’s experience on each route and broader reflection on what walking long distances alone does to a person’s sense of time, faith, and direction.
The three routes Penn chose have distinct characters. The Pilgrims’ Way follows the medieval path taken by pilgrims to the shrine of Thomas Becket at Canterbury. St Cuthbert’s Way crosses the border country between Scotland and England, finishing on the tidal island of Lindisfarne. The Camino’s Portuguese Coastal Route runs along the Atlantic coast before turning inland toward the cathedral at Santiago de Compostela. Each one appears in its own section of the book.
Penn approaches the subject without a fixed religious framework, writing instead about what the act of sustained walking reveals. She covers the physical side honestly, including the St Cuthbert’s Way walk undertaken while still recovering from COVID-19, and the book is practical enough to serve as preparation reading for anyone considering their own pilgrimage.