The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry
by Rachel Joyce
by Rachel Joyce
320 pages
Random House, 2012
fiction
Read in 4 days
My Rating: ★★★★
"The letter that would change everything arrived on a Tuesday."
Review: What can I say about Harold Fry? He's an old man, but not as old as all that, who's recently retired, when he receives a letter from a co-worker he hasn't seen in several decades. Queenie is dying from cancer and she's writing to say her last good-bye.
This book had me from the very beginning. For me, it really starts when he decides to mail a response. The way this book is told from inside his head, his inner-most thoughts and ideas are fascinating and gripping. What lengths would any of us go to so a friend might live?
There are many moving moments in this story that sort of begins and ends with a girl who works in a garage (ie. a kind of convenience store) where Harold first makes the decision to walk from his home in Kingsbridge to Queenies Hospice located on the outskirts of Scotland. In all it's over 500 miles he's decided to walk. As long as he walks the whole way there it stands to reason that she will live until he gets there. It's what he believes from a story the young lady who works in the garage tells him. It's the beginning of a great many stories he's confided with on his journey. I'm reminded of the doctor who teaches him how to properly care for his feet since he insists on completing the journey in a pair of boat shoes. They are not aprapo footwear for a pilgrimage of any kind. Then there is the silver-haired gentleman who confides in him about his closet romance with another gentleman. There are so many different kinds of people Harold meets along the way it's fascinating to read.
Rachel has an uncanny way of answering questions the reader might have at the right moment that they might be thinking it. For instance, the notion that he would be walking for so long and no one ever taking his picture or his story never turning up on the news? Well, not only does that end up happening, but he's even tweeted about! This is a story that shows just how powerful a persons actions can be and just how personal their intent if they truly believe. Harold believed, which in turn made others believe in themselves enough to do unthinkable things. He does come across one or two with bad intents on their minds but the good people he encounters outweighs the others.
There is a lot of raw emotion and so much more to the story than a simple pilgrimage to visit a dying friend. At first you might think it odd that he should journey so far for a woman he hadn't heard from in over 20 years but as his journey continues so does the truth about his life and how the choices he made put him where he was at that moment, walking.
So I ask, how many of us would talk 500 miles if it meant a dying friend would live a little longer? I won't spoil the ending except to say, expect tears of joy and of sorrow. I would expect nothing less from an excellent book.
Summary: Meet Harold Fry, recently retired. He lives in a small English village with his wife, Maureen, who seems irritated by almost everything he does. Little differentiates one day from the next. Then one morning a letter arrives, addressed to Harold in a shaky scrawl, from a woman he hasn’t heard from in twenty years. Queenie Hennessy is in hospice and is writing to say goodbye. But before Harold mails off a quick reply, a chance encounter convinces him that he absolutely must deliver his message to Queenie in person. In his yachting shoes and light coat, Harold Fry embarks on an urgent quest. Determined to walk six hundred miles to the hospice, Harold believes that as long as he walks, Queenie will live. A novel of charm, humor, and profound insight into the thoughts and feelings we all bury deep within our hearts, The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry introduces Rachel Joyce as a wise—and utterly irresistible—storyteller.
If you want to learn more about Rachel Joyce, please visit her site.
