An Accidental Pilgrim: A Memoir in Prose and Verse

In An Accidental Pilgrim, retired physicist and Argentinean immigrant Maria Caponi, a non-religious widow of Jewish heritage, takes readers on a transformative journey along the rugged and challenging “El Camino de Santiago” trail.

While it may seem like a typical hiking story, Maria’s memoir is anything but ordinary. Her prose and poetry are woven together to create a tapestry of her life, including her childhood in Argentina, her experiences as a graduate student in the U.S., her marriage to her best friend, and the many journeys that have shaped her identity.

An Accidental Pilgrim is a memoir that will resonate with anyone who has embarked on a journey of self-discovery. Maria’s words invite readers to explore the world’s beauty and complexity, reflect on the past, and embrace the unknown possibilities of the future.

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“Maria Caponi invites us along on an arduous, wondrous journey, as she hikes El Camino with a group of friends, learning again and again to love herself, her one precious life, the beautiful world in which she finds herself, wherever she goes. In the process, the reader also falls in love with this pilgrim – vulnerable, funny, warm, wise, and deeply human as she is.”

-Cecilia Woloch, Poet, writer, Fulbright Foundation fellow, Pushcart Prize award winner, author of Tsigan, the Gypsy Poem.