Every novel has a map under the floorboards — a geography of real places the writer walked before the fiction took shape. The Pilgrim’s Table is no exception.
The route at the heart of this novel is drawn from one of Christianity’s oldest pilgrimage traditions: the network of paths that have carried walkers toward sacred sites for over a thousand years. While the characters and the inn at the center of the story are entirely fictional, the road they walk is real — and you can walk it too.
A Tradition Older Than Most Nations
Christian pilgrimage as a formal practice traces back to the 4th century, when Helena, the mother of Emperor Constantine, made her pilgrimage to the Holy Land. By the medieval era, three great pilgrimage destinations had emerged: Jerusalem, Rome, and Santiago de Compostela. The Camino de Santiago alone has drawn pilgrims continuously since the 9th century, and the Via Francigena — the medieval road from Canterbury to Rome — predates it by another two centuries.
What strikes me, having walked portions of both, is how little has actually changed. The waymarks are newer. The boots are better. But the questions pilgrims carry are identical to those carried by walkers a millennium ago.
📖 About The Pilgrim’s Table
A novel about strangers who meet on an ancient pilgrimage route and discover that the journey’s most transformative moments happen not at the destination — but around the table along the way.
Kindle presale opens May 15,2026. Book Club orders and signed copies available exclusively at thepilgrimstable.com.
The Pilgrim Hospitals That Inspired the Inn
The fictional inn in The Pilgrim’s Table draws directly from the tradition of medieval pilgrim hospitals — way stations where walkers received food, shelter, and care. The Hospital de Órbigo on the Camino Francés is one of the most evocative surviving examples. So too is the network of refugios and albergues that today’s pilgrims still rely on.
What these places shared — what they still share — is something larger than logistics. They were built on the premise that hospitality toward strangers is itself a form of devotion. That premise became the novel’s spine.
Walking the Route Yourself
For readers curious to walk a portion of the pilgrimage that inspired the novel, the American Pilgrims on the Caminoorganization offers excellent planning resources for first-time walkers. My own pilgrimage podcast, Sacred Steps, covers practical preparation across more than 100 episodes — now streaming in 112 countries.
If you’ve ever wondered what it would feel like to set out on foot toward something sacred, this novel is, in part, my attempt to answer that question.
The Pilgrim’s Table releases July 1, 2026, in paperback and hardcover, with Kindle presale opening May 15. Reserve your copy or order signed editions at thepilgrimstable.com.
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