The Promised Land is the story of three Americans who each decide – for reasons good and bad – to walk a portion of the Camino de Santiago, from the village of Le Puy in southern France to the Spanish border (the full walk ends in Santiago, and covers a thousand kilometres or more, depending on where the pilgrim chooses to start: Rome, or somewhere a little closer).

I’ve been interested in the Camino since I saw the Martin Sheen movie, The Way. Based on the book description, I was expecting the characters to start their Camino pilgrimage at the beginning of The Promised Land, and for most of the story to be set on the Camino (as it was in the Way).

That was not the case. The first part of the story is spent introducing the main characters: Abbie, the housewife whose well-organised life is unravelling; Bobby, her oldest son, who wants to be an artist even though his mother wants him to go to college, and Caro, a sometime photographer for the online paper where Bobby interns in photography and graphic design.

Abby is a strange combination of annoying and endearing. She’s a complete control freak, something which has driven her husband and sons away. And she’s endearing in that it’s hard to feel any ill-will towards her, because she’s always acting out of love. She just doesn’t realise she’s been smothering her husband and children, and that’s effectively pushed them away.

Bobby is a typical teenage boy in many ways, but his heart is in the right place and he has good motives. He’s likeable and responsible, even when his mother is annoying him and everyone else.

Caro was probably the most complex character. The story flips between her present and her past, back to a time where she made a bad judgement call over a relationship that had far-reaching effects, effects she hasn’t been able to forgive herself for.

As with all Elizabeth Musser’s stories, there are deep spiritual truths hidden in the pages, particularly with Abby’s personal journey (or perhaps I thought that because she’s the character who best represents my stage in life). The challenge with deep spiritual truths is to show them in a way that feels consistent with the characters, as opposed to preaching to the reader. Musser achieves this with a seeming ease.

The Promised Land is a standalone story that includes characters from several of Elizabeth Musser’s earlier novels: The Swan House, The Dwelling Place, and The Long Highway Home. Recommended for those looking for Christian fiction that will both inspire and challenge their faith.

Thanks to Bethany House and NetGalley for providing a free ebook for review.

About Elizabeth Musser

Elizabeth Musser writes ‘entertainment with a soul’ from her writing chalet—tool shed—outside Lyon, France. Elizabeth’s highly acclaimed, best-selling novel, The Swan House, was named one of Amazon’s Top Christian Books of the Year and one of Georgia’s Top Ten Novels of the Past 100 Years (Georgia Backroads, 2009). All of Elizabeth’s novels have been translated into multiple languages.

From an interview with Publisher’s Weekly, “Elizabeth Musser likes to say she has two part-time jobs. Not only is she an award-winning novelist, but she and her husband serve as missionaries at a small Protestant church in Lyon, France. In both lines of work, she avoids preaching and simplistic answers, choosing instead to portray a God who cares in the midst of life’s complexity…”

Elizabeth adds, “My desire is to offer the best literature I can write, drawing the reader into a story that is compelling, believable and sprinkled with historical detail. I seek to give a realistic picture of what faith lived out in this world looks like, and, as always, I hope that my stories can be appreciated by all audiences, not just those readers who hold my same religious beliefs. It is a delight to receive confirmation of this through reader letters.”

For over twenty-five years, Elizabeth and her husband, Paul, have been involved in missions’ work in Europe with International Teams. The Mussers have two sons, a daughter-in-law and three grandchildren who all live way too far away in America.

You can find Elizabeth online at:

Website | Facebook | Pinterest | Twitter

You can read her Friday Fifteen here.

About The Promised Land

With her oldest son taking a gap year in Europe, her aging father losing his sight and his memory, and her husband of twenty years announcing that he’s leaving her, Abbie Bartholomew Jowett is surrounded by overwhelming loss.

Desperate to mend her marriage and herself, she follows her son, Bobby, to walk the famed Camino pilgrimage. During their journey they encounter Rasa, an Iranian woman working in secret helping other refugees, and Caroline, a journalist who is studying pilgrims on the Camino while searching for answers from her broken past.

Each individual has their own reasons for the pilgrimage, but together they learn that the Camino strips you bare and calls you into deep soul-searching that can threaten all your best laid plans.

You can find The Promised Land online at:

Amazon | BookBub | ChristianBook | Goodreads | Koorong

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