Yellow Arrows: Finding My Way on the Camino de Santiago

by Shelli Peck
Shelli Peck, 2025
301 pages
On Goodreads

Reviewed by Joseph A. Curro, Jr. | Arlington, MA

In Shelli Peck’s engaging and introspective memoir Yellow Arrows, those distinctive waymarks of the Camino de Santiago serve as a leitmotif as Peck guides readers through her physical and emotional journey. She invites us into a world marked by psychologically abusive relationships, divorce, and their impacts on her daughters. She paints a picture of a workaholic looking for something new.

Many readers will relate when Peck finds what she is looking for on the Camino. Planning to retire early and walk alone after the pandemic, she is surprised when her husband, John, decides to join her. They throw themselves into an ambitious training program around their Nebraska home and travel 200 miles to the nearest outdoor store to gear up for their trek across Spain.

What unfolds is an endearing love story. The couple’s deep shared affection shines through in an impromptu birthday party at a meseta albergue in San Bol, playful singing of the first three words of songs to avoid getting on one another’s nerves, and an emotional arrival into Santiago de Compostela. Peck attempts to hide her rapidly worsening blisters, but ultimately surrenders the care of her feet to her husband’s loving ministrations.

Their love extends to fellow travelers, too. The couple invent amusing names for other pilgrims, and they relish reunions with their various “swarms” along the way. Shelli fights her maternal impulses when encountering a young woman from Israel, and is later moved by the gift of a silver shell.

The author struggles with fits of conscience throughout the book, segueing between her inner journey and the physical path. Peck places a stone bearing the word “Regrets” at the foot of the Cruz de Ferro, yet she wrestles with her choices along the way, questioning her interactions with fellow pilgrims. Like the yellow arrows that guide Camino pilgrims, some signs are clear, while others can be easy to miss. We find our way, then may fall out of step for a spell.

Shelli Peck is a wonderfully descriptive writer whose honesty draws the reader into her journey story. Ultimately, Yellow Arrows reminds us of the higher purpose that pilgrimage can serve to help point the way in our lives.

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