05/03/2026
The Only Way is Up
The Only Way is Up: on Foot to Rome is a new memoir of long-distance walking, and a meditation on how we move forward when life asks us to begin again.
Dunedin-born author Jennifer Andrewes set out from Canterbury and walked some 2,500 km over 110 days along the Via Francigena, across England, France, Switzerland and Italy. Her book offers an honest, grounded portrait of life on the trail.
While written through the lens of walking to Rome, The Only Way is Up speaks to anyone at a crossroads. It offers pilgrimage not as an escape from real life, but as a practical framework for living well: shedding excess weight – physical and metaphorical – building resilience and cultivating presence.
Jennifer’s experience of living with Parkinson’s is part of the landscape, but it does not dominate the narrative. Instead, it quietly sharpens the book’s central insight: that while we cannot always change our circumstances, we can change how we meet them. We can choose movement over stagnation, curiosity over fear. Sometimes the only way forward – in walking and in life – is onwards and upwards.
Wairarapa Word welcomes you to hear Jennifer Andrewes speak about her life and her books on Saturday April 4th at 3pm in the Community Courthouse, beside Carterton Library and Events Centre.
Jennifer will be in conversation with Carterton writer and editor Philippa Tucker.
Koha entry. No booking necessary. Just come along.
