BOOKS CRAFTED BY THE JOURNEY
Book #1 of the Reluctant Pilgrim Series
Who am I meant to become?
Diego has spent years avoiding that question.
He’s drifting through life in a Spanish village on the five-hundred-mile Camino de Santiago, watching thousands of pilgrims pass through in search of transformation. Something he's never dared to seek for himself.
Until the night his father catches him playing flamenco guitar for a captivated crowd.
In that moment, Eduardo—a man haunted by ghosts from his own past—realizes his son is running out of time. He sends Diego away with an old Spanish guitar and a choice that will change everything:
Take the safe path to his cousin’s farm and keep hiding. Or step onto the ancient pilgrim road and face the truth he's spent his whole life running from.
The Camino doesn't let you hide.
The strangers Diego meets along the way—pilgrims carrying their own burdens, sharing their own faith—will challenge everything he thought he knew about himself, his music, and what it means to truly live.
But transformation doesn't happen by accident.
It begins with a single step.
"Stephen R. Marriott takes us on a journey through the eyes of Diego, a young guitarist, as he struggles to find his path in life. It's a touching tale which will not only have you reaching for the next in the series, but maybe your backpack as well."— Richard Paul Evans #1 New York Times Bestselling Author
Book #2 of the Reluctant Pilgrim Series
What happens when the journey ends—but you're still lost?
You keep walking.
Diego thought walking the Camino de Santiago would give him answers. Instead, he's standing at the edge of everything he's ever wanted—and paralyzed by fear.
Madrid calls, but what if he's not good enough? The flamenco scene is unforgiving. Murky bars where masters play until dawn. Auditions that expose every weakness. Then there's the dancer—her movements telling stories his guitar aches to echo, a connection that feels like it could save or ruin him.
But the road isn't finished with him yet. Ancient pilgrim roads still wind south toward Andalusia—toward the birthplace of flamenco, toward answers he can't find on any stage.
The Camino taught him to walk. Now he has to learn to stand still.
To face the music. To face himself. To finally become the person his father believed he could be—before fear makes the choice for him.
Some pilgrimages end at a cathedral.
Others begin when you stop running from who you're meant to become.
“…should interest anyone with a sense of adventure and curiosity about the wider world.” — Kirkus Reviews
Book #3 of the Reluctant Pilgrim Series
The Camino brought Diego to fame. Now it has to bring him home.
Diego has the life he was supposed to want: sold-out arenas, screaming fans, a rock star existence most people only dream of.
But when his wife walks out at the height of his fame, everything shatters.
She was his anchor. His reason. The only person who knew who he was before the world decided who he should be. And now she's gone—and Diego has no idea how to get her back. Or if the man he's become is even worth saving.
Then he meets Nessie.
A backpacker with a restless spirit and an unshakeable joy for life. She doesn't care about his fame. She just sees a broken man who's forgotten how to be free.
And she reminds him of the only road where he ever felt whole: the Camino de Santiago.
This time, the pilgrimage is different. No answers. No transformation. Just a desperate man walking north through Portugal and Spain, trying to piece together the wreckage of his marriage, his music, and the boy he used to be. Along the way, he learns the hardest lessons aren't found on stages—but in the quiet humility of the road.
The Camino taught him to walk. Then it taught him to stand still.
Now it has to teach him to start over.
One rock concert. One flamenco guitar. One man's reckoning with who he was always meant to become.
Some journeys lead you forward.
Others strip you bare and force you to rebuild from nothing.
"A moving, spiritual, thoughtful book that will remind you of the important things in life."
— Leonora Meriel, author and co-founder of Ukraine's largest bookshop and publishing platform Yakaboo.
