The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry - Rachel Joyce

What a book! - 'The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry' by Rachel Joyce-

Wanting to go on a walk across my country last year, just caught hold of this book as it was about a man's walk - So many emotions, so many lessons, Changing times, relationships, with few constants. 14th of 2020, and first of this February.

Harold Fry, recently retired from Kingsbridge, lives down south of England, with his wife, Maureen. One morning a letter addressed to Harold arrives from Queenie Hennessy who is in hospice and is writing to say goodbye. He hasn't seen or heard from her in twenty years. Harold pens a quick reply and, leaving Maureen to her chores, heads to the corner mailbox. And thus begins the unlikely pilgrimage.


Harold Fry is determined to walk six hundred miles from Kingsbridge to the hospice in Berwick-upon-Tweed because, he believes, as long as he walks, Queenie Hennessey will live. In his yachting shoes and light coat, Harold embarks on his urgent quest across the countryside. Along the way he meets one character after another, each of whom unlocks his long-dormant spirit and sense of promise. It begins with the Garage Girl, whose words ' if you have faith, you can do anything', inspires him to go ahead, and he keeps writing to her till the end.

Memories of his first dance with Maureen, his wedding day, his joy in fatherhood, come rushing back to him - allowing him to also reconcile the losses and the regrets. As for Maureen, she finds herself missing Harold for the first time in years. Along with the Pilgrimage of Harold, we too become a pilgrim, as Queenie too is in one, and there are many others, some wholeheartedly, some for fun, and some with nothing else to do, who join him.

Some thoughts are, "All the pieces of a life must eventually be surendered, as if in truth they amounted to nothing." " Walking should be simplest thing, just a question of putting one foot in front of the other, how difficult are things supposed to be instinctive." "So many stories, so many people we do not know"; "We do not need to be extraordinary to do extraordinary things". He covered 627 miles in 87 days, from Kingsbridge to Berwick.

And then there is the unfinished business with Queenie Hennessy. I wonder, how worth is it holding a person suffering and about to die? Is'nt it better to let them go, when the time has come, without suffering?

'The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy' (Harold Fry #2); not a Harold Fry prequel or sequel but a parallel story, told by Queenie's ...hope to read it some day.