Walking with Sam: A Father, a Son, and Five Hundred Miles Across Spain

An intimate, funny, and poignant New York Times bestseling travel memoir following award-winning author and actor Andrew McCarthy as he walks the Camino de Santiago with his son Sam.

When Andrew McCarthy's eldest son began to take his first steps into adulthood, McCarthy found himself wishing time would slow down. Looking to create a more meaningful connection with Sam before he fled the nest, as well as recreate his own life-altering journey decades before, McCarthy decided the two of them should set out on a trek like few others: 500 miles across Spain's Camino de Santiago.

Over the course of the journey, the pair traversed an unforgiving landscape, having more honest conversations in five weeks than they'd had in the preceding two decades. Discussions of divorce, the trauma of school, McCarthy's difficult relationship with his own father, fame, and Flaming Hot Cheetos threatened to either derail their relationship or cement it. Walking With Sam captures this intimate, candid and hopeful expedition as the father son duo travel across the country and towards one another.

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Published May 9, 2023

256 pages

Average rating: 8.21

19 RATINGS

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Community Reviews

Anonymous
Jul 05, 2024
8/10 stars
When I mentioned this book to my younger son and told him about El Camino, the 500-mile walk across Spain that McCarthy did with his son, he said, "Eh, I won't be doing that with you, before you ask..." Shoulda thought of it when we were all much younger.

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