Ordinary Magic

by Cameron Powell

A terrifying diagnosis. An unbreakable bond. And one unforgettable journey. Cameron Powell has always struggled with goodbyes. On the day his marriage ends, he finds out his mother’s cancer has returned—and this time there may be no escape.

Faced with the prospect of more chemo and surgery, his German-born mother, Inge, vows to conquer a 500-mile trek across Spain, and Cameron pushes aside his fears to walk by her side. Joined by a misfit band of adventurers—a politically incorrect Spaniard, a theatrical Frenchwoman, a teenager who’s never been far from home—Cameron and Inge write a fierce and funny travelogue about the rocky heights and hidden valleys of the Camino de Santiago. But the hardest stretch comes three years later, when Inge’s health declines—and Cameron, ready or not, must accept the challenge to remain as present to his mother as he can. As their journey shrinks to the room around a hospice bed, Cameron begins to record, in their blog, his real-time impressions of life’s most difficult voyage.

The result is one of literature’s “epic love letters” (Julia Scheeres, Jesus Land). Propelled by the searing immediacy of his own fear and sadness, this deeply-felt memoir opens up new insight into what it means to be a man, and takes us—with wisdom, humor, and an overflowing tenderness—into one of the most challenging journeys true friends can ever take. If you like candid motherson relationships, humorous tales from the trail, and in-the-moment insights on living a life of purpose, then you’ll love this luminous, inspirational true story about pilgrimage, presence, and letting go.