Pilgrimage (Jacinta Halloran, Scribe)

Jacinta Halloran’s debut novel Dissection, about a female GP embroiled in a negligence suit and the personal devastation that followed, was published to critical acclaim in 2008. Pilgrimage again features a female medical practitioner as the protagonist. Hard-working analytical paediatrician Celeste is married, childless and the older sister to carefree Nathalie. Early on in the novel, Celeste’s mother is diagnosed with motor-neuron disease and given a fairly grim diagnosis. Her mother, a devout Catholic, is enamoured of the idea of going to Nicula, a small town in Romania famed for Lourdes-style healings. Reluctantly Celeste accompanies her mother and younger sister to Romania on a pilgrimage. Once overseas, away from Australia and away from her husband, Celeste questions her sense of belonging and self as well as the core foundations of her family. With tenderness and skill, Halloran unpacks Celeste’s tightly wound core, examining her deepest fears and bringing them to light. This is a novel that examines the minutiae of life—our perceptions and prejudices, our judgements and our relationships with those closest to us. Pilgrimage is classy and intelligent fiction about faith and belief in a contemporary world.

Sarina Gale is a freelance writer and bookseller at the Sun Bookshop in Yarraville

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Category: Reviews