Kate Spencer of Montague is a woman of many talents. She is a musician and has also manufactured banjos professionally. Her first love, though, and one she is currently pursuing perhaps more than ever, is art.

“I grew up in Great Falls, Montana, and remember drawing and painting for as long as I lived,” she said. She has recently incorporated writing into her blend of talents by penning and illustrating her first book, “The Cat Who Walked the Camino” (Independently published, 44 pages, $14.95).

Spencer explained the book is based on a true story. As readers may know, the Camino is the pilgrimage trail (actually, there are several different trails, but they’re all called the Camino) leading to Santiago de Compostela in northwestern Spain.

The city is the site a grand cathedral that supposedly houses the remains of Saint James, the biblical apostle. The routes leading toward the city and the cathedral have been popular with Christian pilgrims for centuries.

Spencer’s daughter lived in Spain for several years after graduating from college. Spencer and her husband visited, and the family traveled along the Camino. At a hostel in the Basque country, Spencer recalled, a small kitten jumped into her daughter’s arms.

“My husband named him Don Pedro Pepito and said that his story needed to be told,” she said.

The actual compilation of the book took place in fits and starts over five years, Spencer noted. Because she is an artist, she created the art first and then wove her story around it.

In the story, a kitten is adopted at a farmers market by a young woman named Lucía, who is traveling along the Camino during her gap between secondary school and college.

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Lucía plans to meet her family at Santiago de Compostela. Meanwhile, she and the little cat are both lonely, and they form a close bond as they travel.

Readers get a sense of the journey from reading the book, as Lucía and Pepito see landmarks along the way and encounter a variety of pilgrims. At one point, they lose each other, but as they continue the journey individually they are reunited.

I asked Spencer whether she had traversed the whole Camino herself. She explained that because she has a bad back she traveled along the route with a husband-and-wife team, “On Foot in Spain,” in a van.

Participants could walk as little or as much as they liked … and were served a delicious daily lunch prepared by their hosts.

After her return from Spain, Spencer read a lot about the Camino. The first book about it, she learned, dates back to the 12th century. She didn’t find a single children’s book about the pilgrimage, however.

“I thought, ‘Here’s a niche that hasn’t been exploited,’” she said. “I wanted to encourage families to do at least some walks along the Camino. ... People do the Camino on horses, in wheelchairs, on bicycles. As I say in the book, you make it your Camino.”

The book is charming. Pepito and Lucía are rendered in soft colors, and one sees their attachment grow during their journey. I’m not a long-distance walker, and neither is my cat, Rhubarb, but “The Cat Who Walked the Camino” almost made me long to take her along on a pilgrimage.

Although the Camino is a profoundly Catholic journey, the book presents it as a challenge rather than a religious ritual. Both Lucía and Don Pedro Pepito mature as they make their way to the shrine, hearing stories and meeting people along the way. Their journey together will appeal to both adults and children.

Writing about them was a joy for Spencer.

“This was so much fun to do,” she said of creating the book. “It was so rewarding.”

She hopes in the future to get the book translated into Spanish and sell it somewhere near or along the Camino.

“The Cat Who Walked the Camino” is available from all local bookstores and from the author. She may be contacted through her website, katespencerart.com.

Kate Spencer will read from her book on Wednesday, March 20, 2024, at 6 p.m. at the Montague Center Library.

Tinky Weisblat is an award-winning cookbook author and singer. Visit her website, TinkyCooks.com.