Minerva Rising Press, 2016
ISBN 9780996763974; $10.00
A woman, her daughter, a donkey, and a dog. A journey. A monk. How do you know where you belong when you are miles from home?
“…unique and revelatory. An earthiness – a grit – contrasts to the ethereal matters of soul and heart… the plot and sensory detail kept me turning pages.” – Erika Robuck
Pascale is the only child of a drunken horse trader and his long-suffering wife in thirteenth century France. Pascale’s mother, tormented by imagined sins, sets off to walk the pilgrimage road to Santiago in expiation – with her reluctant daughter, an opinionated donkey and one gallant stray dog. Whose journey is this, really?
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I had this novella in a drawer, and it took me ten years to decide to finish it. No one wants novellas. So my little 33K-word historical novel set in the thirteenth century about two women on the pilgrimage road to Santiago just sat. Until Minerva Rising Press, an independent publisher devoted to supporting and bringing out the work of women writers, announced a contest for (gasp!) novellas. The judge was Erika Robuck, who writes historical novels herself, so I thought what the heck, and sent it in. The email I got on February 14, 2016 telling me that Pilgrim had been chosen as the winner was the best Valentine ever.
