Author: Rachel Joyce
Published: 9th October 2014
Publisher: Doubleday
I am absolutely thrilled to be part of the tour for The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy with a review. Please do also check out the stops below for some other great content.
Having absolutely loved Rachel Joyce’s The Unlikely Pilgrimage
of Harold Fry, I was beyond excited when I heard that she had written the story
from Queenie's point of view. I could not wait to get stuck in and revisit the
characters that I had grown to love before.
Queenie was always a character that I wanted to know more
about, and at the end of Harold Fry; meeting her was kind of an anti-climax (SPOILER ALERT!) as Queenie
was a lot more ill than we or Harold first thought. It was always in the back
of my mind what could be going on for Queenie whilst she was waiting for Harold
at the hospice and this story gives you exactly that.
Whilst Queenie is waiting, she decides; along with the help of Sister Mary Innconnue
to write Harold a letter and tell him the truth after all these years of
leaving Kingsbridge without so much as a goodbye to Harold.
I found Queenie’s story much sadder than Harold’s and my
heart really did bleed for her as she seemed such a kind woman and her life
sounded hard to bear. You feel Queenie’s pain like a sharp knife in your side. Despite the sadness though, there was some joy and I particularly loved reading about Queenie's sea garden.
I wasn’t expecting to learn more about Harold’s son David,
so this was an unexpected twist for me, and I surprised to learn that I didn’t
really like him.
I did like Queenie's story, but for me, The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry is still my utmost favourite, but I loved that it was still written in the same style and loved seeing all the little black and white pictures again.
Although Queenie’s story was sad, it still had a kind of
beauty and poignancy to it, the ending was also somehow peaceful and light.
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