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Pilgrims
A monk leaves the monastery to search for his teenage brother, who has run away from home in the middle of a high school cross-country race. Alternating between each brother’s perspective, Pilgrims follows its protagonists as they encounter Appalachian Trail thru-hikers, greyhound rescuers, eccentric communists, and tiny cemetery-keepers. A rumination on abandonment and the intimacies we’ve lost to a world obsessed with progress and material success, Pilgrims announces the arrival of a striking new voice in American fiction.
236 pages, Paperback
Published November 18, 2025
About the author
Devin Kelly
14 books41 followersDevin Kelly is a high school teacher in New York City. He writes the newsletter Ordinary Plots, and his work has appeared in The Guardian, Longreads, LitHub, The Year's Best Sportswriting, and more. Pilgrims is his first novel.
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Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
March 13, 2026
My early 20s, though not devoid of joy, were a very aimless, disillusioned time. I was wayward in the worst possible way, angry at the world and my family and myself. It had all looked so beautiful until it looked so ugly. The world didn’t look a place I wanted to stay for very long.
But in those years, some of my absolute fondest memories are sitting with Devin Kelly on his back patio in Harlem, a block away from where I lived. We drank beer, listened to Bruce Springsteen, and talked for hours about all the ifs we wanted to overcome in ourselves and in the world. Sometimes we even sat in silence. I’m so pleased to revisit the same questions we once tried to explore together in his backyard in this beautiful, lyrical text he’s written. It’s marvelous. Whether in person or in writing or in silence, it’s a gift to get to wonder.
For all of it—the company, the comfort, the conversations, the mercies—I will always be grateful. Devin also helped me move two bookshelves once and I am grateful for that, too.
But in those years, some of my absolute fondest memories are sitting with Devin Kelly on his back patio in Harlem, a block away from where I lived. We drank beer, listened to Bruce Springsteen, and talked for hours about all the ifs we wanted to overcome in ourselves and in the world. Sometimes we even sat in silence. I’m so pleased to revisit the same questions we once tried to explore together in his backyard in this beautiful, lyrical text he’s written. It’s marvelous. Whether in person or in writing or in silence, it’s a gift to get to wonder.
For all of it—the company, the comfort, the conversations, the mercies—I will always be grateful. Devin also helped me move two bookshelves once and I am grateful for that, too.
April 16, 2026
What a beautiful exploration of family, loneliness, connection, and how to live life with presence and love.
Devin Kelly is a poet and creative that deserves to be known. He has a deep love for humanity and the trials and tribulations of being authentic in this day and age. His Substack, Ordinary Plots, is worthy of your time.
Pilgrims is the beautiful story of two brothers. The younger one runs away and the older, a young acolyte in a monastery, walks away to find him. Along the way they meet themselves and a lot of amazing people.
Kelly weaves in poetry, philosophy, faith, nature and a side of humanity we feel like we have become too jaded to remember exists.
This is a beautiful debut novel and I look forward to whatever comes next. Highly recommended for anyone that loves adventures from the road, witnessing characters blossom, or beautiful prose with a heckuva lot of feeling.
Devin Kelly is a poet and creative that deserves to be known. He has a deep love for humanity and the trials and tribulations of being authentic in this day and age. His Substack, Ordinary Plots, is worthy of your time.
Pilgrims is the beautiful story of two brothers. The younger one runs away and the older, a young acolyte in a monastery, walks away to find him. Along the way they meet themselves and a lot of amazing people.
Kelly weaves in poetry, philosophy, faith, nature and a side of humanity we feel like we have become too jaded to remember exists.
This is a beautiful debut novel and I look forward to whatever comes next. Highly recommended for anyone that loves adventures from the road, witnessing characters blossom, or beautiful prose with a heckuva lot of feeling.
December 31, 2025
Loved loved loved. My favorite book of 2025 BY FAR
August 3, 2026
4.5/5
the most “poet wrote a novel” of all time maybe but in the best way- you’re either going to love it or not make it past the first ten pages.
the most “poet wrote a novel” of all time maybe but in the best way- you’re either going to love it or not make it past the first ten pages.
December 28, 2025
i’ve been a fan of devin kelly for almost ten years now and i just love his writing. i also love books sort of about religion. reminded me of bridge of clay by markus zusak.
November 28, 2025
Felt like reading a long lovely poem
March 9, 2026
This book is a minor miracle. Incredible.
Read
June 28, 2026Beautifully written book. There are so many fantastic little lines that remained stuck in my head even after I turned the page.
Also, not for nothing, but Pilgrims is a wonderful tribute to the non-industrialized parts of the East Coast.
Patiently waiting for Pilgrims 2!
Also, not for nothing, but Pilgrims is a wonderful tribute to the non-industrialized parts of the East Coast.
Patiently waiting for Pilgrims 2!
May 29, 2026
Pilgrims captures what it means to be alone in a world in which we are seemingly never alone. And it offers us an opportunity at loneliness as a sacred and scarce thing that must be savored. Loneliness is both a religion and a salve from the harshness of the world. Do yourself a favor and sit in its stillness.
December 14, 2025
I love the poetic narrative that is Pilgrims. Get yourself a copy. Parts that speak to me:
Wanting the world to be smaller. Rejecting the hustle.
“There’s a brutality to life, I said. Maybe not life. But life, yeah. People want to attack it. Like, they really want to attack it. It all becomes work and warfare. Every employer - I gestured out Stilts’s window - is saying first year salary this, starting salary that. They promise more money in a year than I ever thought possible, and then I still bet when Stu or anyone gets that job, they’ll complain about it all. They’ll say what they say on campus when they’re up late in the library. ‘This shit sucks me dry. this shi kills.’ I want nothing of that world. It’s so mean. But everyone lives in it.”
The tree of legend by the river (Twirl a Tree or Upright Boat or Two Trees, Two Brothers or Two Sisters) and what it represents.
“Really, I felt like the tree rooted in the water, its limb caught in a wild and strained reach across the river. Hoping for closeness, not finding it. “
The notion that there is wisdom to be had wherever you go, from the bus driver and the gas station attendant.
The exploration of the examination of self in silence. “I just am.”
Forgiveness vs. grace, from the character Evan, who is rolling his way across the country in his wheelchair.
“Grace is an exercise in the limitlessness of acceptance. It is what happens when you accept how conditional people are, and then move your heart toward the unconditional.”
Daily acts of witness.
From Bobby, the main character. “At a certain point, you have to commit to your place within this place. To your daily act of witness. Your bread-making, your listening, your going-out-to-look-at-the-moon. And you make of that your life. People get tired of hearing there’s somewhere better than where you are. So they try to make where they are better. They wake up and stack the biscotti.”
From Evan. “Our world, he said, wants us to stay on the fucking road, because anyone who has any power knows that’s where they can keep us! To keep us as lost souls! Herding! Toward! Some proclaimed! Good! When they keep us there, we lose our power! We can’t do anything. We tell ourselves to love the in between. We meditate to keep our anxious minds at bay. We don’t have to do that! We can find a here right here. We don’t have to always be going there.”
The reflection of blood vs family, from the character Billy.
“And yet, despite these facts, the fact of leaving and the fact of the screaming the hitting, the yelling, you still feel a slight pull toward them. No, it’s not slight. It’s of the universe, like the tides. A massive pull beyond description. You want to run after the car that leaves. Hold the man who hurts you. What causes this other than magic? Blood is a thing you cannot choose, but it holds you. Damnit, it does.”
Wanting the world to be smaller. Rejecting the hustle.
“There’s a brutality to life, I said. Maybe not life. But life, yeah. People want to attack it. Like, they really want to attack it. It all becomes work and warfare. Every employer - I gestured out Stilts’s window - is saying first year salary this, starting salary that. They promise more money in a year than I ever thought possible, and then I still bet when Stu or anyone gets that job, they’ll complain about it all. They’ll say what they say on campus when they’re up late in the library. ‘This shit sucks me dry. this shi kills.’ I want nothing of that world. It’s so mean. But everyone lives in it.”
The tree of legend by the river (Twirl a Tree or Upright Boat or Two Trees, Two Brothers or Two Sisters) and what it represents.
“Really, I felt like the tree rooted in the water, its limb caught in a wild and strained reach across the river. Hoping for closeness, not finding it. “
The notion that there is wisdom to be had wherever you go, from the bus driver and the gas station attendant.
The exploration of the examination of self in silence. “I just am.”
Forgiveness vs. grace, from the character Evan, who is rolling his way across the country in his wheelchair.
“Grace is an exercise in the limitlessness of acceptance. It is what happens when you accept how conditional people are, and then move your heart toward the unconditional.”
Daily acts of witness.
From Bobby, the main character. “At a certain point, you have to commit to your place within this place. To your daily act of witness. Your bread-making, your listening, your going-out-to-look-at-the-moon. And you make of that your life. People get tired of hearing there’s somewhere better than where you are. So they try to make where they are better. They wake up and stack the biscotti.”
From Evan. “Our world, he said, wants us to stay on the fucking road, because anyone who has any power knows that’s where they can keep us! To keep us as lost souls! Herding! Toward! Some proclaimed! Good! When they keep us there, we lose our power! We can’t do anything. We tell ourselves to love the in between. We meditate to keep our anxious minds at bay. We don’t have to do that! We can find a here right here. We don’t have to always be going there.”
The reflection of blood vs family, from the character Billy.
“And yet, despite these facts, the fact of leaving and the fact of the screaming the hitting, the yelling, you still feel a slight pull toward them. No, it’s not slight. It’s of the universe, like the tides. A massive pull beyond description. You want to run after the car that leaves. Hold the man who hurts you. What causes this other than magic? Blood is a thing you cannot choose, but it holds you. Damnit, it does.”
December 15, 2025
Pilgrims curled up in my heart like a warm, sleeping kitten on a cold day. Its teachings were as gentle as they were powerful, the characters will fill you with recognition no matter your experiences. The protagonist's decision to flee to a monastery, for reasons of escape and the search of peace (and to no longer be held hostage to his phone) more than religion has become a tempting idea. The book reads like poetry and is both painful and hopeful. I read it slowly to savor, and cherished the characters introduced throughout, which I appreciated that the came both in the beginning, the middle and the end. It's a story about family and loss and hope, and Devin's ability to gently reach the reader through this unique story is effective, generous, and much needed in these times.
As the book reads:
'Every waking minute, someone is doing something somewhere almost solely out of love. You have to decide to witness it, decide to pay attention to these acts - because it takes some looking before what seems ordinary becomes extraordinary.'
As the book reads:
'Every waking minute, someone is doing something somewhere almost solely out of love. You have to decide to witness it, decide to pay attention to these acts - because it takes some looking before what seems ordinary becomes extraordinary.'
January 26, 2026
I stumbled-serendipitously-across across Devin Kelly a few years ago through someone who recommended his amazing essay on longreads.com about learning to ride a bike (fittingly, it's titled "Stumbling Can Be Lovely"), and then started following his weekly substack, "Ordinary Plots," which routinely inspires me. When I read that he was publishing a novel, I knew I wanted to read it, and I am so glad I did. The book is tender, and as poetic as I would have hoped for from Kelly. I was constantly rooting for all of the characters to succeed and thrive despite what life (and often, each other) was throwing at them. It's not just escapist reading, but more more like advice for how to hope and love and pay attention to this world where we all find ourselves.
December 28, 2025
I’ve come across a handful of books in my life that I call watershed books. They’re the ones that altered my understanding of literature and life at once. Fight Club when I was 19. Tom Spanbauer’s I Loved You More when I was 29. Lauren Groff’s The Vaster Wilds when I was 38, and now Pilgrims just after turning 40.
This is a perfect novel. Existential and profound. Funny and heart-wrenching. It asks enormous, cosmic questions, and provides deep and satisfying comfort in the unknowability of the answers—if the answers even exist at all. Devin Kelly has become one of my all-time favorite writers with this one. What a massive, extraordinary triumph.
This is a perfect novel. Existential and profound. Funny and heart-wrenching. It asks enormous, cosmic questions, and provides deep and satisfying comfort in the unknowability of the answers—if the answers even exist at all. Devin Kelly has become one of my all-time favorite writers with this one. What a massive, extraordinary triumph.
January 31, 2026
It’s hard to describe this book adequately. It’s an exploration of loss and grief and the ways we fail each other or perceive being failed by each other. But also about how we accept each other and ourselves. A meditation on mercy/grace/forgiveness and how very small seemingly insignificant actions when done with love, intention and devotion can contain (or even may be) God.
This is a book I will for sure read again bc there is so much to take in and my little description doesn’t do it justice. Highly recommend.
This is a book I will for sure read again bc there is so much to take in and my little description doesn’t do it justice. Highly recommend.
July 1, 2026
Reading this book was a terrible experience. It's clear what the author is trying to do and they are incredibly incapable. I made my way through it because I think the ideas behind it are very new and fantastic (and I loved the concept of every character). I'm giving it a forgiving rating because this is a debut, and if future work shows more individual style instead of obvious hamfisted language then this person could be a really good author. I am amazed at how many times a person can repeat themselves in such a short book!!!
December 14, 2025
What an astounding novel! This book touched on so many things that matter to me in life, and because of this, and the profound storytelling, I was drawn in from the first page. What a wonderful debut novel. Put it at the top of your stack of books to be read!!
January 11, 2026
Reading Pilgrims is a fulfilling engagement in questions about soul work. Soul work as the condition of aliveness and the task of living and loving. Beautiful writing and format of narrative. I strongly recommend this book as a reading experience.
July 4, 2026
I ordered this novel because I follow Devin Kelly’s substack. His writing did not disappoint. I ordered a real book, with pages, because that’s the only way to read this book. Worth it. Already looking forward to tomorrow’s Substack.
August 10, 2026
Not sure what to still think of this book. It was poetry in a story, lyrical, the title alone gave it away that the characters (main and secondary) are on a pilgrimage. I find myself with more questions than answers, “wondering” and asking what and “why”.
August 25, 2026
True literary fiction! Beautiful, haunted, poignant
March 3, 2026
Devin Kelly is a wonder and seeing the inside of his brain is a gift.
April 21, 2026
Highlight was Billy’s runs in poem form. Extraordinary
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews