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This Walk Will Change You: One Family, 500 Miles, and the Surprising Science of Going the Distance
Not yet published
Expected 10 Nov 26A memoir of one family’s journey along the Camino de Santiago, illuminating the science, history, and enduring human instinct behind long-distance walking—and why it has the power to change us.
When Lauren Duke sets out to walk the Camino de Santiago with her family, she is searching for a connection that has always felt just beyond reach. Years of unspoken trauma have shaped the patterns between them—but as the miles unfold, she begins to wonder whether those patterns can change.
Across 500 miles of ancient pilgrimage routes, the family moves through changing landscapes, long days, and the quiet discipline of putting one foot in front of the other. Along the way, Duke begins to explore a deeper question: why does walking—especially over long distances—have such a powerful effect on the human mind and body?
Interweaving her family’s experience with research in neuroscience, psychology, physiology, and the history of pilgrimage, she traces how sustained movement regulates the nervous system, sharpens attention, and opens space for reflection. Over time, she comes to see that long-distance walking does more than provide clarity—it offers a form of narrative reorganization, allowing us to revisit old stories and respond to them differently. Through walking, we not only change our relationships with others but also with ourselves.
The insight is both simple and hard-won: we cannot change the people in our lives, but maybe we can change the patterns we carry into those relationships. The Camino becomes not just a physical journey, but a lived experiment in how change actually happens—slowly, repetitively, and through the body.
At once personal and expansive, often humorous and deeply reflective, This Walk Will Change You offers a new understanding of why we walk—and what becomes possible when we go the distance.
When Lauren Duke sets out to walk the Camino de Santiago with her family, she is searching for a connection that has always felt just beyond reach. Years of unspoken trauma have shaped the patterns between them—but as the miles unfold, she begins to wonder whether those patterns can change.
Across 500 miles of ancient pilgrimage routes, the family moves through changing landscapes, long days, and the quiet discipline of putting one foot in front of the other. Along the way, Duke begins to explore a deeper question: why does walking—especially over long distances—have such a powerful effect on the human mind and body?
Interweaving her family’s experience with research in neuroscience, psychology, physiology, and the history of pilgrimage, she traces how sustained movement regulates the nervous system, sharpens attention, and opens space for reflection. Over time, she comes to see that long-distance walking does more than provide clarity—it offers a form of narrative reorganization, allowing us to revisit old stories and respond to them differently. Through walking, we not only change our relationships with others but also with ourselves.
The insight is both simple and hard-won: we cannot change the people in our lives, but maybe we can change the patterns we carry into those relationships. The Camino becomes not just a physical journey, but a lived experiment in how change actually happens—slowly, repetitively, and through the body.
At once personal and expansive, often humorous and deeply reflective, This Walk Will Change You offers a new understanding of why we walk—and what becomes possible when we go the distance.
320 pages, Hardcover
Expected publication November 10, 2026
About the author
Lauren Duke
6 books3 followersLauren aspires to one day be a Christy Award recipient, but in the meantime she is a high school senior living her dream of writing...and lots of reading...and then more writing. It's been her passion for as long as she can remember. There's nothing she loves more than writing and seeing people enjoying her books.
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October 5, 20264 stars; review to come November 2026
September 28, 2026
I loved this book! There are two things in this book that I am very interested in, stories about dysfunctional families(especially true stories) and The Camino de Santiago. In this book, Lauren Duke has perfectly combined them. She has done tons of research on how long distance walking changes everything about you and so does the Camino Trail. Her estranged mom and siblings thought she was crazy when she suggested that they walk the Camino, a trail that goes 500 miles across Spain. She finally got them to agree and it totally changed their lives. I learned so much about walking and the physical, psychological and physiological benefits of long distance walking from this book. The Camino has been on my bucket list ever since I read my firs book about it(and I've read several). I hope I get to walk it or a similar trail soon. Thanks to @NetGalley for the ARC of this book. Buen Camino!!
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