N.H. Schwabacher asked Cindy Burkart Maynard:

Your pilgrimage on the Camino de Santiago very likely inspired you to write FINDING THE WAY, which I am currently enjoying. What else sparked your curiosity? The atmospheric way you describe various landscapes speaks of your familiarity with them. What portions of research fascinated you most? (Medieval medicinal plants maybe? The church's view on herbalists?)

Cindy Burkart Maynard What a great question. First, thanks so much for reading "Finding the Way." Hope you don't mind a long answer. The year I walked the Camino, 200,000+ people walked. Most did not walk the full 500 miles, but there were LOTS of people. Along the way I learned in the mid 1200s over 200,000 people walked the Camino. I thought "Wow, what would that have been like?" I love history and "Finding the Way" was my third historical fiction, So down the rabbit hole I went. I researched what was going on in the Iberian Peninsula (Spain did not exist yet) during that time. The Moors ruled most of Spain, but not in the Basque country at the foot of the Pyrenees. The Basque country, where my walk began, is one of the most unique and interesting places I've ever been. They tenaciously maintain their singular identity, going so far as to print street signs in their indecipherable Basque language (it's a language isolate - no related languages exist). They resisted the onslaught of Christianity and the Church used their resistance against them, prosecuting their healers as witches. That was the impetus of the story. I have been a volunteer naturalist for Boulder County for 20 years and have a long and deep love of the natural world. Since there were no "medical doctors," as we know them, at that time the herb women were the de facto healers. So off I went. Many of the characters are based on the people I met along the Camino. Thanks for asking. The sequel, "Esperanza's Way," was published this past June.

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