The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry

When you find an author you like, read everything they've ever written ever.

That's where I am with Rachel Joyce.

First, it was The Music Shop, which had me in tears. I liked her novel Perfect, but not quite as much. Then along comes Harold Fry. A story that, for me, was a giant metaphor for the journey we call life (is that a Prince quote?) And, like life, it meandered at times into places I wasn't sure I wanted to follow.

Harold Fry is an ordinary man living an ordinary life. He lives with his wife, though they don't exactly live together. Like so many, they end up more like ships passing in the night, saying what they shouldn't and not always saying what they should. Then, one day, Harold gets a letter from an old friend named Queenie Hennessey. She's dying. She's writing to say goodbye. Harold is immediately floored by this information, but the reader doesn't yet know why. He immediately writes a reply and walks outside to mail it. But, he doesn't mail it. Instead, he decides to walk to deliver it to Queenie himself. He believes that as long as he's walking, she'll stay alive. It's hundreds of miles away and he doesn't have proper shoes, his phone, etc. Still, he walks. And discovers himself along the way.

The entire book is Harold's journey. We walk with him through the English countryside as he encounters challenges and odd characters. He finds people that bring him hope and finds people who make him remember things about his past. He experiences unexpected fame. He finds pleasure in the simple things and finds that clearing his head is also allowing his heart to crack wide open, exposing memories he's buried for years.

The book, at the start, held infinite promise. At times, it meandered for me and I was losing interest. It was exciting sometimes, boring at others and the emotion waxed and waned throughout. Then,when Harold's pilgrimage reached its destination at my knees nearly buckled. The narrator's voice in my head hushed almost to a whisper at the delicate scene that lay before him. I was back in - all in - and, the book felt almost precious until the end.

Once again, Rachel Joyce did not disappoint. Harold was one of those characters that will settle inside my heart for a long time. His journey was like all of our journeys - and the weight he carried was lifted just in time.