I have never been so excited about sharing my work as I am right now. My upcoming novel came from my heart and it is going to be live in the world in exactly 8 months from today! OCTOBER 6th, 2020! Wow! I still can’t believe it! It’s releasing from DUET BOOKS, the YA imprint of INTERLUDE PRESS and I’m SO thrilled that they’re taking a chance on this baby of mine!
I first walked the Camino in May of 2014 with a group of pilgrims from Canada. We were led by our fearless leader, Sue Kenney. I had just come off of a 3-year healing journey, working through issues I faced as a survivor…and I chose the Camino de Santiago adventure as the end-cap to that time in my life. I was ready to leave the past behind. But I also wanted to make it about my writing life. I went on the walk with the intention of writing during the evenings. I had the kernel of a story and I wanted to test it out. I saw a group of teenagers walking the Camino as penance for their crimes and misdemeanors.
Thing is, the Camino was so much more than I expected. It was overwhelming in the daytime, while we walked, and it was overwhelming in the evenings while we communed with people from all walks of life from all corners of the world. There was no time to write. There was only time to LIVE. To Breathe. To EXHALE. To WITNESS. To LOVE.
The writing could wait. The writing would come later.
And it did. Boy, did it! I wrote THE CAMINO CLUB in a blur…for the most part over the course of a couple of weeks. It had elements I originally envisioned, and it had so many surprise elements I could not have imagined. It was walking the Camino that inspired the TRUTHness of the final novel that emerged from the original kernel. It was the people I met along the path, the endless days of rain and resilience and love. The dancing, the magic, the mayhem. It all contributed to the story I eventually wrote…while back home in Toronto, thousands of miles away from the magical pilgrimage path that begins in France and ends in Spain…either at the cathedral in Santiago de Compostela, or at the ocean in Finisterre…also known as THE END OF THE WORLD to earlier pilgrims on the ancient path.
Anyway, I’m just excited. This book is COMING! I’ve seen the cover and it eclipsed ALL OF MY WILDEST DREAMS. It is THE cover! It’s so beautiful and I can’t wait for everyone to see it. Stay tuned, because sometime in the coming months there will be a reveal.
For now, I can only ask you (beg you) to be a part of this book’s long and heartfelt journey. Below, I’m linking the PREORDER PAGES ON AMAZON FOR BOTH CANADA AND USA. Please consider preordering THE CAMINO CLUB now…and it will drop into your Kindle on OCTOBER 6th, 2020…which happens to be 8 short months from this very moment!
Here’s the novel’s back cover blurb:
After getting in trouble with the law, six wayward teens are given an ultimatum: serve time in juvenile detention for their crimes, or walk the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage route across Spain over the summer holidays with a pair of court-appointed counselor guides. When it becomes clear the long walk isn’t really all that much of an option, they set out on a journey that will either make or break who they are and who they are to become.
THE CAMINO CLUB – AMAZON CANADA PREORDER LINK
THE CAMINO CLUB – AMAZON USA PREORDER LINK
KEVIN CRAIG 