The Parallel Path cover art

The Parallel Path

Love, Grit and Walking the North

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About this listen

 Whatever Jenn Ashworth turns her hand to, I'm there to read it'
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 Art & Literature Authors Cultural & Regional Death & Dying Nature & Ecology Outdoors & Nature Science Sociology

Critic reviews

I admired the magnificent, multi-strata meditation on which she takes the reader while putting one foot in front of the other for 190 north-country miles... This blend of memoir and travelogue is more than the story of Ashworth's walk through the north-country landscapes through which she passes. It also becomes a pilgrimage inwards as Ashworth reflects on life, death, bereavement, motherhood, being a northerner, friendship, what it means to care for someone and be cared in turn, the limitations of one body and a single lifespan. I felt I was walking with her, stride for stride. (Non Fiction Book of the Month)
Touching, thoughtful and frank - Jenn is a wonderful writer. (David Nicholls, author of YOU ARE HERE)
Forget the Salt Path - this writer's introspective journey provides genuine food for thought... Chastened but buoyant, she's stimulating to be with, her book the best kind of walking companion. (Blake Morrison)
I've long loved Ashworth's uncanny fiction, and this memoir is filled with her characteristic understanding of the connections between the physical world and our interior lives. Wonderful for taking on a walk yourself.
Reading The Parallel Path feels like going on a long walk with an old friend: Jenn Ashworth is exceptionally good company. I loved it. (Mark Haddon, author of THE CURIOUS INCIDENT OF THE DOG IN THE NIGHT-TIME)
Whether it's strange and haunted novels that linger long after the last page has been turned, utterly unnerving short stories or brave memoir excursions in which her own life is laid bare, whatever Jenn Ashworth turns her hand to, I'm there to read it (Benjamin Myers, author of THE OFFING)
The Parallel Path is an exploration of need and care. As Jenn Ashworth walks across the country, she learns the strength and precarity of inhabiting a body, and the measures we sometimes take to resist softness. She considers what it means to be from the north, a place which predicates itself on toughness, and how to make space for vulnerability within that. With honesty, humour and determination, Ashworth's journey takes the reader from coast to coast in search of freedom, teaching us to recognise the fragility and strength in our mortality (Jessica Andrews, author of MILK TEETH)
Ashworth traces her solo journey walking the North of England's Coast to Coast route, while reflecting on everything from grief to motherhood. (Best books of July)
Jenn Ashworth finds a new direction - that of acceptance and resilience - in this beautifully realised, powerful memoir. (Catherine Taylor, author of THE STIRRINGS)
All stars
Most relevant
This is a book about walking, obviously the Wainwright coast to coast, but also the ambulatory challenge of striding between life and death, between isolation and connectedness. The writer is honest and transparent about many things, and generous to be discovered in new experience and to share the nuggets with us.

Moments of discovered wisdom that I struggled to write down

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I so enjoyed listening to Jenn Ashworth’s The Parallel Path, it’s such a unique and unusual piece of work!

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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Listened to the audio version whilst walking Coleridge way. Loved this - what a story written in such a personable, honest, witty and moving way. Nicely read too.

Very moving and funny

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