The Parallel Path
Love, Grit and Walking the North
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The Parallel Path
Narrated by:
Melanie Crawley
Buy Now for £12.99
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Narrated by:
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Melanie Crawley
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By:
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Jenn Ashworth
About this listen
BENJAMIN MYERS, author of The Offing
'With honesty, humour and determination, Ashworth's journey takes the reader from coast to coast in search of freedom'
JESSICA ANDREWS, author of Milk Teeth
'A miracle of a book . . . One of our finest human nature writers'
RICHARD BEARD, author of Sad Little Men
'Stunning - and stunningly intelligent'
JULIE MYERSON, author of Nonfiction
Burnt out and longing for an escape, Jenn Ashworth emerged from lockdown with a compulsive need to walk - and to walk away. Armed with little more than the knowledge imparted by a two-day orienteering course and a set of maps, she embarked on the most epic of English walks: Wainwright's Coast to Coast.
Guided not just by Wainwright's writing but also by daily letters from her friend Clive - facing an epic journey of his own - Jenn's pilgrimage soon becomes a chance to re-engage with the act of caring for others and for oneself.
But the walk's tricky terrain is not the only thing standing in Jenn's way. As days go by, her balance begins to fail her and the act of putting one foot in front the other becomes a new exercise in caution. When a vicious heatwave forces her to pause her expedition and gives her an opportunity to investigate the new limitations of her body, Jenn is confronted with a life-altering diagnosis - and a new path of self-discovery.©2025 Jenn Ashworth (P)2025 Hodder & Stoughton Limited
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Critic reviews
A wonderfully tender, generous tale of care and companionship in all its forms. The Parallel Path is a pilgrimage through one woman's life of loss and love, and a powerful friendship. Ashworth deftly articulates the experience of walking as a need to leave and just keep going - and the power to be able to come back to yourself. She explores the value of solitude and aloneness and the complexity of the human need for contradictory things and how we learn to live with ourselves nonetheless. Ashworth writes with warmth and self-deprecatory humour, noticing the everyday detail in the ordinary moments of life with a vibrancy that makes you feel as if you are walking along beside her. Never sugaring the pill, she holds her own dilemmas and frustrations lightly, but without undermining them, before you know it you are immersed in her world and wishing you were there too. The Parallel Path shows us the importance of place on who we are, how it houses our memories and griefs, of human stories of living and dying, and our imperfect response to each of these things. It is about expected and unexpected illness and of one woman's path in navigating all the trip hazards on route. A masterclass in memoir and place writing, and a gentle critique of Wainwright (and charity marathons) along the way (Louise Kenward, editor of MOVING MOUNTAINS: Writing Nature Through Illness and Disability)
Moments of discovered wisdom that I struggled to write down
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I meandered my way through the narrative stumbling across some absolute gems and real nuggets of quiet, but nonetheless thought provoking, insight and wisdom. I listened to it over a couple of my daily walks, which felt rather suited to the book’s content, suffice to say I ended the book a wiser and hopefully more thoughtful and compassionate person than when I began it.
It’s the sort of book which will impart further rewards with each and every listen - the narration by Melanie Crawley is perfectly pitched to suit the book’s content and geography.
I’m just off to purchase a copy of the physical book so that I can savour the text at leisure, I often find the experience of reading and/or listening brings out different perspectives in a piece of writing, especially so when the narrative is as rich and generous as this one.
Breathtaking, such a beautifully worthwhile and interesting listen!
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Very moving and funny
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