Twee alert: He makes the whole trek while wearing yachting shoes.Īs he travels, Harold begins to marvel at how much he has been missing. He finds that he is stronger than he realized, even if the book devotes more than enough attention to a weeping blister that develops as he walks. He finds out that the little things in life matter. Harold finds out that there is fresh air, scenic vistas and an open sky outside the confines of his unhappy home. In a book that sometimes misleads and manipulates its readers, Ms. Harold and Maureen’s marriage went stale a long time ago, to the point where Harold thinks of her as “a wall that you expected to be there, even if you didn’t often look at it.” When Harold leaves home, Maureen is hurt enough to suggest that the estrangement was Queenie related. It’s hard to say whether this is more surprising to Harold or to his wife, Maureen. Joyce’s father) will walk the entire length of England in hope of keeping Queenie alive. Harold (whose story was in part inspired by the terminal illness of Ms. Gosh.” Then he writes her a postcard and walks down his road to mail it. When Harold reads the letter, he responds with a tearful “I um. Queenie is dying at a hospice that is 627 miles north of Harold’s home near the English Channel. One day Harold receives a letter from an old acquaintance, Queenie Hennessy. Joyce’s novel, a sentimental nominee for this year’s Man Booker Prize, has a premise that is simple and twee. Readers will learn that one man’s quiet timidity should not be taken at face value. Harold will learn that there is more to life than mowing one’s lawn. “The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry,” Rachel Joyce’s first novel, contrives a way to shake him out of his monotonous life and send him on a voyage of self-discovery. At first glance Harold Fry is a sad, lonely English milquetoast, the human equivalent of a potted geranium.

The unlikely journey of harold fry