“What at first seems a quiet, if elegant, read builds into a powerful meditation on the nature of mortality and meaning.”
Rachel Power, AEU News
“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, Australian Bookseller and Publisher
“This is more than merely an exploration of faith and reason. Pilgrimage obliges us to think about death and how it affects our closest relationships. It looks at the forbearance of families; the insistence of the past; the burden of memory; and the power (and disappointments) of hope…Even given the fraught nature of some of the issues it deals with, reading Pilgrimage existing for a time within this story of a woman searching for her life is not only a satisfying experience, it's a strangely soothing one as well.”
Diane Stubbings, Canberra Times
“The tenderness and spirit of the characters make this a moving read. Verdict: Sustaining, provocative family study”
Julie Thomson, Courier Mail
“[Halloran] imbues the novel with the sensitivity and warmth associated a great bedside manner. Celeste's decision at the end of the novel is a good talking point for book groups. Verdict: make the journey”
Blanche Clark, Herald Sun
“Halloran conveys well the strengths and frailties of family relationships, the tensions between duty and love and the results of judgements made, forcing her characters to focus on what is truly important to them in life…a really rewarding and provoking read with a deceivingly simple touch.”
Helen Caples, Launceston Examiner
“Pilgrimage [is] one of the best Australian novels I’ve read all year. I read it in one sitting and much of it has stayed with me since. Contemporary, elegant and serious, Halloran does a near-perfect job of capturing the nuance of what it means to be a daughter and a mother and a wife—to be stirred with both rage and empathy, and to long for life’s answers as deeply as happiness itself.” READINGS BOOK OF THE WEEK
Jessica Au, Readings Monthly
“Quiet and compelling.”
Lucy Sussex, Sunday Age
“Explores the intertwining strands of faith, hope and mortality with careful devotion and an empathetic eye.”
Thuy On, The Australian
“Pilgrimage is a heart-rending exploration of the great paradoxes of what it means to be human—issues of faith and motherhood, memory, purpose and yearning all refract brilliantly on an unusual journey to find healing in a faraway place. Propulsive, prismatic and lyrical.”
David Francis
“A subtle, moving exploration of the tensions between grief and hope, faith and reason, duty and love.”
Peter Goldsworthy
“Jacinta Halloran is one of our finest proponents of moral realism. Pilgrimage is as affecting a portrait of the mother–daughter relationship as you could hope to find.”
Amanda Lohrey
