Every Step She Takes Summary, Characters and Themes

Every Step She Takes by Alison Cochrun follows Sadie Wells, a 34-year-old antiques shop owner who has spent most of her life trying to fit into expectations that never felt right.  After one too many disastrous dates and a growing sense that she has never actually wanted the life others imagine for her, Sadie escapes to Portugal to walk the Camino de Santiago in her sister’s place.

What begins as a desperate attempt to pause her life becomes a journey of self-discovery, community, identity, and first love.  The novel balances humor, vulnerability, queerness, and the deeply human desire to understand oneself.

Summary

Sadie Wells is exhausted from years of unwanted matchmaking.  Her sister Vi believes Sadie simply hasn’t met the right man yet, while Sadie quietly suspects something deeper: she has never felt attraction to men at all.

After months of awkward dates she agreed to as part of a deal with her family, she finally reaches a breaking point.  Her last date—an objectively perfect man named Grant—still sparks nothing.

Leaving the date numb, Sadie realizes she can no longer pretend her lack of interest is temporary or accidental.

Back home, she can’t articulate what she’s feeling, and before she can explain anything, the conversation shifts to Vi’s sudden injury.  Vi was supposed to travel to Portugal to walk the Camino de Santiago for a paid assignment, but her broken toe ruins the opportunity.

In a moment of panic and escape, Sadie volunteers to take her place.  She frames it as a gesture of sisterly support, but deep down she craves space to sort through questions she has avoided for years.

Sadie sets off for Europe overwhelmed, inexperienced, and weighed down by the pressure to create travel content for Vi’s blog.  On her long flight, she sits next to Mal, a confident, tattooed traveler who has walked the Camino multiple times.

When severe turbulence terrifies Sadie, she grips Mal’s hand and blurts out her secret fear that she might be a lesbian.  Mal responds with gentle steadiness, calming her throughout the ordeal.

After they land, the two part ways, both assuming the chance encounter is finished.

But when Sadie arrives in Porto to join her Camino group, she discovers Mal is also part of the same tour.  The shock rattles them both.

Their group is composed mostly of queer women, each with distinct personalities and stories, and Sadie instantly feels out of place.  At dinner, when it’s her turn to introduce herself, she stumbles through an explanation about filling in for her sister and being straight.

Embarrassed, she spirals until Mal cuts in to divert attention and protect her.

Sadie and Mal end up sharing a room, which heightens her emotional confusion.  She breaks down from exhaustion and uncertainty, and Mal offers space instead of comfort, aware of her own tendency to blur emotional boundaries.

The next morning, Sadie begins her trek and quickly learns how physically demanding the Camino is.  Blisters, heat, and self-doubt plague her, yet she is drawn to the landscape and her fellow pilgrims.

Meanwhile, the tension between her and Mal grows heavier with each shared moment.

As days pass, their dynamic shifts.  They flirt, then pull back, then collide again.

One night after dancing and several drinks, Sadie confronts the truth she’s been circling: she wants Mal.  On a moonlit beach, she asks Mal to kiss her so she can finally understand her own identity.

Mal hesitates but eventually agrees.  Their kiss confirms what Sadie has long resisted acknowledging—she has never wanted men because she desires women.

The experience is exhilarating and overwhelming.

The next day, they are hungover, embarrassed, and unsure how to navigate the energy between them.  They pretend the kiss was merely “practice,” but the connection refuses to fade.

Throughout the next stretch of their walk, Sadie feels drawn to Mal in ways she cannot ignore.  Their group gets matching Camino tattoos, during which Mal holds Sadie’s hand, deepening the silent bond between them.

Soon after, Mal pulls her into a secluded alley and kisses her again—this time fully intentional.

Yet Mal carries her own emotional scars.  She has a complicated relationship with her late father, a Portuguese winemaker who rejected her after she came out.

She fears attachment, rootedness, and vulnerability, and those fears spill over into her relationship with Sadie.  Though she wants Sadie, she worries she’s repeating her pattern of using relationships to distract herself from unresolved pain.

One night in a shared room, Sadie admits she wants to learn how to have sex with a woman and trusts Mal more than anyone to guide her.  Mal initially refuses but eventually agrees under the pretense of helping Sadie gain confidence.

Their intimacy is tender, awkward, charged, and transformative.  But the emotional weight of it scares Mal, who withdraws afterward, convinced she’s made a mistake she cannot undo.

Sadie, feeling rejected and ashamed, switches roommates and throws herself into the final days of the Camino.  The walk to Santiago becomes a reckoning.

Along the way, Sadie confronts the identity she spent years suppressing and acknowledges the possibility of a life shaped by her own desires rather than familial expectations.  Mal wrestles with her own demons, recognizing that she pushed Sadie away out of fear rather than clarity.

When the group reaches Santiago, the grand cathedral fails to deliver the epiphany Sadie imagined.  Instead, she finds clarity in Mal’s presence.

They have one final conversation in the square.  Mal apologizes for not being what Sadie needed.

Sadie insists she found what she came for: understanding herself.  Mal asks if they can remain friends.

Sadie agrees, though the goodbye leaves her aching.

Back in Seattle, Sadie meets her mother and sister at the airport and finally speaks the words aloud: she is a lesbian.  Their acceptance lifts a weight she has carried for decades, giving her the freedom to build the life she wants.

Meanwhile, Mal extends the Camino to Finisterre, pushing herself physically and emotionally alongside Stefano.  After confronting her unresolved grief during her father’s elaborate funeral, she learns from his widow that her father regretted how he treated her and privately supported her from a distance.

This truth forces Mal to reconsider her entire understanding of herself, her independence, and her future.  She realizes she has been living in reaction to pain rather than pursuing what she truly wants.

The Camino, the funeral, and her feelings for Sadie push her to consider a life rooted in intention rather than avoidance.

By the end, both women emerge with a deeper sense of who they are and what they want, forever changed by the journey, the community they found on the trail, and the unexpected love that shaped their steps.

Characters

Sadie Wells

Sadie is the emotional core of Every Step She Takes, a woman whose life has been shaped far more by obligation and expectation than by desire.  At thirty-four, she has built her world around her grandmother’s antiques shop and her role as the “reliable” daughter and older sister.

Her early characterization shows a woman who has learned to shrink herself—socially, sexually, and romantically—because she has never been allowed the space to explore who she truly is.  Her long history of failed dates and her complete absence of attraction toward men form part of a deeper truth she has buried for years.

Much of her interior conflict comes from the distance between what she thinks she is supposed to want and what she actually feels.  The Camino becomes the first context in which she is physically and emotionally removed from familiar pressure.

Through her encounters with Mal—first chaotic, then tender—Sadie begins to understand desire for the first time.  Her journey is not only about discovering she’s a lesbian, but about learning to trust her own perceptions, needs, and instincts.

She evolves from someone who apologizes for taking up space to a woman who allows herself to want, to hurt, to be vulnerable, and to claim a life that actually fits her.

Mal (Malin)

Mal, the enigmatic, blue-haired traveler, embodies motion, rebellion, and avoidance in equal measure.  She presents herself as someone who has mastered independence—constantly traveling, living without roots, and avoiding emotional entanglement—but beneath this exterior is a complex mixture of grief, resentment, and longing.

Her relationship with her wealthy Portuguese father shapes much of her behavior.  Rejected by him when she came out, Mal has spent years defining her life against his values: drifting instead of settling, seeking experiences instead of attachments, and choosing heartbreak-free encounters over intimacy.

When she meets Sadie, the ease with which Sadie turns to her in fear and vulnerability unsettles her deeply.  Mal is drawn to her from the beginning—her earnestness, awkwardness, and capacity for genuine feeling—but that attraction triggers her fear of repeating past patterns.

She tries to distance herself, but her instinct to comfort and connect keeps pulling her back.  Mal’s arc revolves around learning that independence does not have to mean isolation; that emotional closeness is not a trap; and that a life of constant motion may be a form of running rather than living.

Her growth becomes fully visible only after Sadie leaves, when she confronts her family’s legacy and recognizes that she wants a home, a future, and love she doesn’t have to flee from.

Vi Wells

Vi serves as both catalyst and contrast to Sadie.  As the younger sister who thrives on adventure, spontaneity, and modern influencer culture, she often assumes she knows what’s best for Sadie.

Her well-intentioned but invasive matchmaking illustrates a pattern of overstepping masked as care.  Vi’s injury and subsequent inability to complete her travel assignment inadvertently open the door to Sadie’s self-discovery, setting the entire story in motion.

Yet Vi is more than a meddling sibling; she admires Sadie deeply and wants her to be happy, even if she expresses that desire through pressure rather than empathy.  When Sadie finally comes out to her, Vi’s surprise quickly transforms into wholehearted support.

Her role ultimately highlights themes of familial love, generational misunderstanding, and learning how to care for someone without trying to control their life.

Sadie and Vi’s Mother

Sadie’s mother brings a blend of anxiety, affection, and persistent interference into her daughter’s life.  Her desire for Sadie to “have everything” often becomes conflated with her desire for Sadie to follow a conventional, heteronormative path.

While she is frustrated by Sadie’s stagnant dating life, her reactions stem from fear—fear that Sadie will be lonely, fear that she will retreat into routine, fear that she will miss out on experiences her mother believes matter.  Her resistance to the Camino reflects her worry that Sadie is not prepared for independence.

Yet when Sadie finally comes out, her mother responds with joy and affirmation, revealing that much of her earlier pressure came from misunderstanding rather than rejection.  She represents a common parental arc: the shift from misguided involvement to genuine acceptance once the truth is finally shared.

Inez

Inez, the tour guide and spiritual anchor of the Beatrix Tours group, represents warmth, intuition, and emotional spaciousness.  She embraces Sadie from the moment she arrives, not because Sadie fits in but because she senses the internal unraveling Sadie cannot articulate.

Inez understands that the Camino is never just a physical journey; it is a ritual that invites change.  Her gentle encouragement, group circles, and reflective prompts help both Sadie and Mal confront what they’ve been avoiding.

Her presence foreshadows the idea that transformation is not only possible but inevitable when one walks long distances with strangers who slowly become temporary family.  Inez’s support at Mal’s father’s funeral also reveals her emotional depth—she is a figure of grounding, compassion, and wise, understated guidance.

Rebecca

Rebecca brings the perspective of someone coming into queerness later in life.  Her recent coming-out experience injects vulnerability and hope into the group dynamic.

Through her, the story emphasizes that self-discovery is not confined to youth and that queer identity does not follow a single timeline.  Rebecca’s openness and enthusiasm also help normalize Sadie’s questioning, offering a quiet reminder that being late to understand oneself does not diminish the authenticity of that truth.

Ro

Ro, the terse and dry-humored nonbinary retired programmer, offers a grounded and gentle presence on the Camino.  Their stories about their elderly corgis and their matter-of-fact approach to life provide a steady counterbalance to the group’s more dramatic personalities.

Ro becomes an anchor for Mal during her period of withdrawal; by choosing to walk with Ro instead of Sadie, Mal begins to confront her desire for emotional avoidance.  Ro’s subtle, patient companionship becomes part of the support structure that allows both main characters to grow.

Ari

Ari is bold, flirtatious, and unapologetically queer.  As a beekeeper with a big personality, they infuse the group with humor and levity.

Ari’s confidence and ease within their own identity serve as an early mirror to Sadie’s uncertainty—they represent a version of queerness that is comfortable, expansive, and celebrated.  Ari’s role is not only comedic; they help show Sadie what queer community can look like when it’s joyful rather than intimidating, giving her a glimpse of belonging long before she claims it for herself.

Vera

Vera, the aroace member of the group, contributes a perspective that expands the story’s representation of queer identities beyond romantic or sexual attraction.  Their design of the minimalist Camino tattoos becomes a symbolic point of connection for the group.

Vera’s clear sense of self challenges the idea that queerness revolves solely around desire.  Their friendship with Sadie demonstrates that connection can be profound, meaningful, and supportive without being rooted in romance.

Stefano

Stefano, the enthusiastic Italian triathlete who accidentally joins a lesbian Camino tour, brings comedic relief as well as surprising emotional intelligence.  His flamboyance, charm, and occasional cluelessness make him a standout character, but his deeper purpose lies in how he challenges Mal.

When he confronts her about “messing it all up,” he acts as the unexpected truth-teller she didn’t know she needed.  His companionship on the extended journey to Finisterre and his philosophy of “running toward what you want” become pivotal in Mal’s transformation.

Stefano represents the unlikely friend who disrupts avoidance, nudges others toward bravery, and offers emotional clarity beneath a humorous exterior.

Gloria

Gloria, the fifth wife of Mal’s father and acting CEO of the wine company, arrives late in the story yet plays a crucial role in Mal’s emotional evolution.  She embodies the tension between wealth, power, and personal history, but she also carries empathy born of her own queerness and estrangement.

Gloria provides Mal with information that reframes her understanding of her father—from distant villain to flawed man struggling with regret.  Her conversation with Mal ignites the internal shift that allows Mal to imagine a future defined not by opposition but by choice.

Themes

Identity and Self-Discovery

Sadie’s story in Every Step She Takes centers on the unsettling but liberating experience of realizing that the life she has been living is not the one that reflects who she truly is.  Her journey begins in a place of deep stagnation: endless dates with men she feels nothing for, mounting pressure from her mother and sister to “fix” what they believe is her romantic problem, and a quiet fear that something fundamental is wrong with her.

Her recognition that she has never been attracted to men is not a sudden revelation but a slow, confusing accumulation of failed experiences that finally force her to consider the truth she has avoided.  Her identity crisis isn’t about adopting a label; it is about allowing herself to acknowledge feelings she has dismissed for decades.

The Camino becomes the first space she occupies where expectations fall away, where no one has known her long enough to impose assumptions, and where she can explore desire on her own terms rather than in the roles her family has assigned her.  The accidental confession to Mal mid-turbulence marks the first moment she speaks her truth aloud, but the rest of her journey is learning to believe it herself.

Through attraction, embarrassment, curiosity, and fear, she uncovers the version of herself buried beneath years of compliance.  By the time she returns home, her coming out is not a performance for others but an acceptance of herself.

Her transformation is not about reinventing who she is; it is about finally listening to the person she has been all along.

Family Expectations and Emotional Burdens

Family functions as both anchor and weight in Sadie’s life.  Her mother and sister insist they want what is best for her, yet their involvement in her dating life becomes a form of emotional coercion.

The contract allowing Vi unlimited matchmaking until Sadie’s thirty-fifth birthday reveals the dynamic clearly: Sadie’s boundaries have always been negotiable, while her family’s expectations are treated as the unquestioned norm.  She has been conditioned to be the responsible daughter, the one who runs the antique shop, the one who keeps the peace, the one who adapts.

These expectations are not depicted as villainous but as deeply ingrained patterns that have shaped Sadie into someone afraid to disappoint the people she loves.  Her inability to articulate her sexuality stems partly from the fear that her truth will disrupt her family’s assumptions about who she is supposed to be.

Meanwhile, Mal’s storyline highlights a different but parallel burden of family.  She has constructed her entire adult life in rebellion against a father who rejected her, shaping her identity around avoidance, rootlessness, and emotional distance.

Her grief is complicated by anger, longing, and unresolved abandonment.  Both women carry invisible familial weight: Sadie’s from excessive involvement, Mal’s from painful absence.

Their stories show how family can influence identity long after childhood ends and how freedom often requires renegotiating those ties rather than severing them.

Queer Awakening and First Love

Sadie’s queer awakening is portrayed with honesty, awkwardness, confusion, and exhilarating discovery.  Her lack of attraction to men is not framed as bitterness or trauma but as a quiet truth she has never allowed herself to acknowledge.

The contrast between her empty dates with men and the overwhelming spark she feels around Mal demonstrates how desire can reveal clarity where logic cannot.  Her first kiss with Mal is not merely confirmation—it is a radical shift in her understanding of pleasure, longing, and connection.

The narrative treats her late-blooming realization with compassion, highlighting that queerness does not have a timeline and that awakening can happen at any age.  Her relationship with Mal becomes the catalyst for her emotional and sexual growth.

Their “practice” kisses and “practice” sex are humorous on the surface, yet they are profound for Sadie, who experiences wanting someone for the first time.  This theme also explores the vulnerability of first love, which is tender but fragile.

Sadie experiences heartbreak not because her feelings were false but because they were real in a way she had never allowed herself to feel before.  Her queer awakening becomes inseparable from her first taste of genuine connection, illustrating how identity and love often develop side by side, reshaping each other.

Vulnerability, Fear, and Emotional Openness

Both Sadie and Mal struggle with vulnerability, though in opposite ways.  Sadie’s fear stems from inexperience and uncertainty.

She is terrified of admitting she is queer, of disappointing her family, of misreading her own feelings, and of asking for what she wants.  Her instinct is to apologize, shrink, and defer.

Mal, on the other hand, knows herself but hides behind emotional distance.  Her history of using travel, casual connections, and avoidance makes vulnerability feel dangerous.

She pushes Sadie away not because she doesn’t care but because caring exposes her to the possibility of loss.  Their dynamic reveals how vulnerability is not weakness but a form of courage.

When Sadie admits she wants Mal to teach her, when she expresses desire out loud, when she shares her fears in the group circles, she is practicing emotional risk.  Mal’s eventual decision to confront her grief, return to Porto, and face the complicated legacy of her father is an equally significant act of emotional bravery.

The theme highlights how love, intimacy, and self-understanding depend on the willingness to be seen without pretense.  Ultimately, vulnerability becomes the bridge between them—first in desire, later in heartbreak, and eventually in the possibility of something real after the journey ends.

Healing, Grief, and Letting Go

Grief permeates the story in subtle and overt ways.  Sadie carries grief for her grandmother, for the years she lost living a life that never felt fully hers, and for the version of herself she longs to become.

Mal carries grief for a father who hurt her deeply yet still occupies a central emotional space in her life.  Her journey is not about reconciling but about acknowledging complexity: that pain and love can coexist, that absence can be formative, and that healing sometimes requires confronting the source of one’s own avoidance.

The Camino itself is depicted as a ritual of release, where walking becomes a physical metaphor for processing emotional weight.  Group circles about fears, daily reflection, and the shared exhaustion of the trail allow each character to face what they need to leave behind.

Sadie’s list—shame, fear, negative self-talk, her heart—captures her desire to shed the limiting beliefs that have constrained her.  Mal’s eventual confrontation with Gloria forces her to reexamine long-held narratives about her father and herself.

Healing in the novel is not framed as closure but as acceptance.  Both women must let go of the identities shaped by obligation, expectation, and resentment.

The process is messy and incomplete, but it opens the path toward choosing their futures intentionally rather than reactively.

The Camino as Transformation

The Camino de Santiago is more than a backdrop; it functions as the catalyst that shifts every character toward change.  The physical difficulty forces honesty: when bodies ache, masks fall away.

Sadie’s blisters, exhaustion, and daily struggles create the conditions for introspection she has avoided for years.  The diverse queer group becomes a temporary community where she can observe different forms of identity, resilience, and belonging.

The pilgrimage builds connection through shared meals, rituals, rooms, and confessions, making vulnerability less intimidating.  For Mal, the Camino disrupts her patterns of avoidance by placing her in a space where stillness and companionship challenge her instinct to keep moving away from emotional discomfort.

The journey’s symbolism—movement toward a destination that ultimately proves underwhelming—reinforces the idea that discovery happens in the process, not the endpoint.  When Sadie stands before the cathedral and feels nothing, it emphasizes that meaning is created internally, not delivered by external milestones.

The Camino strips away distractions and leaves both women with the truth of who they are, what they want, and what they fear.  It becomes a landscape of rebirth, where each step exposes what has been buried and invites the possibility of transformation.