My two most recent books The Day was Made for Walking and I Guess I'll Just Keep on Walking are about my walking the the Camino de Santiago, the ancient pilgrimage routes through Europe to Santiago in the norrth-west of Spain. I have walked five of these routes through Spain, France and Portugal at a mature age. I walked my first at the age of 77 and in 2018 I walked through France at the age of 84. My involement with the Camino was an endeavour to find meaning and structure following the death by suicide of my wife. All my walks are dedicated to her memory. My grief journey is described in my book No Way to Behave at a Funeral. I regard the three books as a trilogy describing stages of my grief journey.
These books have been well received and have sold well. They are available in print and as e-books. To quote: "Author Noel Braun's prose is beautiful. He pours out his emotions, his life story and his observations of life without reserve and with honesty." "Loved this story, so uplifting and encouraging. Beautifully written. The people he meets and the places he visits are so well described that you can imagine you are accompanying him on his journey. A gem of a book, keep on walking Noel, your spirit shines through and reaches out to us. An absolute treasure!"
I have also written two novels Friend and Philosopher and Whistler Street.
Friend and Philosopher is about a small decaying country town's struggle to keep their one-teacher school open. It is also a coming-of-age story of a young city boy adjusting to life in a remote rural community. It was first published in 2004 and republished in a revised edition in 2018. To quote:"Tense and engaging, Friend and Philosopher captures the awkwardness and confusionof youth, celebrates the loss and confusion of youth and deals with profound an complex issues in a candid and compelling way."
Whistler Street is the story of a friendship between two young men who grew up on the surf beaches of Western Australia. Vince, burning with a desire to save mankind enters the priesthood. Jamie, lacking in any direction, drifts into a disastrous job and marriage. Vince is unwittingly involved in the death of his friend's mother. Vince suffers an emotional and spiritual crisis, quits Perth and the priesthood, crosses the desert to Sydney hoping to find new meaning and purpose. Back in Perth Jamie cries for help and Vince leaves his new home aware that on his return he must make some vital decisions about his own direction.
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A spiritual quest along the Camino de Santiago.
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A spiritual journey following bereavement by suicide.
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Noel Braun yearns to walk the Camino.
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