Harold Fry receives a letter from an old friend of his, Queenie Hennesey, sadly informing Harold that she is dying of cancer. Harold does not know how exactly to respond to this so he writes a short note and goes out to post it. He has no idea at that point that he is going to walk from one end of the country to another to try and save Queenie's life. With nothing with him; no map or hiking boots or mobile phone we are left to wonder how Harold will possibly achieve this- all he and we know is that he must keep walking.
I wanted to read this book so much I bought it twice! Forgetting that I had bought it previously- I have never done that before! But it turned out to be a good thing as I was able to give this brilliant book to my Nan so will be looking forward to discussing it with her :)
I really liked the cover of this book- there was something inviting about it that made me pick the book up. I also loved that each chapter beginning had a little picture summing up the main point of that chapter, See below:
As a reader I felt unsure of Harold as a character to begin with as he's not very responsive to his wife Maureen and you can tell that his relationship with her is not quite right, but as the story evolves we get to know Harold and also Maureen, and our understanding of the characters comes to light.
I think this book is about acceptance and is a journey of self discovery almost. Rachel Joyce is very clever in her writing in gradually revealing bits of Harold's past as he goes on his journey and finds he is reflecting upon things he hadn't really taken the time to think about before. It's also through the people he meets along the way and the stories that they tell him that we all have something/a story that we are hiding from others.
I really wanted Harold to complete his journey- was routing for him all the way. I loved this usual love story and cannot wait to read Rachel Joyce's next novel Perfect which is out in July.
9.5/10
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