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A novel of unsentimental charm, humor, and profound insight into the thoughts and feelings we all bury deep within our hearts, The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry introduces Rachel Joyce as a wise - and utterly irresistible - storyteller.
Meet Harold Fry, recently retired. He lives in a small English village with his wife, Maureen, who seems irritated by almost everything he does, even down to how he butters his toast. Little differentiates one day from the next. Then one morning the mail arrives, and within the stack of quotidian minutiae is a letter addressed to Harold in a shaky scrawl from a woman he hasn't seen or heard from in twenty years. Queenie Hennessy is in hospice and is writing to say goodbye.
Harold pens a quick reply and, leaving Maureen to her chores, heads to the corner mailbox. But then, as happens in the very best works of fiction, Harold has a chance encounter, one that convinces him that he absolutely must deliver his message to Queenie in person. And thus begins the unlikely pilgrimage at the heart of Rachel Joyce's remarkable debut. 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.
Still in his yachting shoes and light coat, Harold embarks on his urgent quest across the countryside. Along the way he meets one fascinating character after another, each of whom unlocks his long-dormant spirit and sense of promise. 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.
And then there is the unfinished business with Queenie Hennessy.
(jacket flap)
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Previews available in: English Chinese French
Subjects
Pilgrimage, Walking, Men, Fiction, Letters, Humorous fiction, Self-acceptance, Roman, Englisch, Married people, fiction, Fiction, humorous, general, England, fiction, Fiction, humorous, Large type books, New York Times reviewed, Middle-aged men, Redemption, Littérature anglaise, Pensionärer, Brev, Cancer, Döden, Personlig utveckling, Chang pian xiao shuoPeople
Harold Fry, Maureen Fry, Queenie Hennessy, David FryPlaces
Kingsbridge, Berwick-upon-Tweed, Bath, Exeter, England, Great Britain, ying guoTimes
xian daiShowing 11 featured editions. View all 36 editions?
Edition | Availability |
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01
The unlikely pilgrimage of Harold Fry: a novel
2015, Anchor Canada
in English
0385686404 9780385686402
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02
Die unwahrscheinliche Pilgerreise des Harold Fry: Roman
Apr 24, 2014, FISCHER Taschenbuch
hardcover
3596513154 9783596513154
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03
Yi ge ren de chao sheng: The unlikely pilgrimage of Harold Fry
2013, Beijing lian he chu ban gong si
in Chinese
- Di 1 ban
7550213526 9787550213524
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05
The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry: a novel
2012, Random House
Hardcover
in English
- 1st ed.
0812993292 9780812993295
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06
The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry
2012, Random House
Hardcover
in English
- First Edition
0812993292 9780812993295
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07 |
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08
La lettre qui allait changer le destin d'Harold Fry arriva le mardi.
Sep 20, 2012, France Loisirs
paperback
2298070571 9782298070576
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09
La lettre qui allait changer le destin d'Harold Fry arriva le mardi: roman
2012, XO éd.
in French
2361070308 9782361070304
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11
The Unlikely Pilgrimage Of Harold Fry
Dec 05, 2012, Wheeler Publishing
hardcover
1410453693 9781410453693
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Book Details
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Work Description
Harold Fry has recently retired and now, he doesn't do very much. Even mowing the lawn, like his wife Maureen tells him to do, seems too much work for him. When, one day, he recieves a lettre in a pink envelope, this lazyness changes. In it, his collegue from long time ago, Queenie Hennessy, tells him she is going to die soon from a cancer in a hospice at the other end of England. Harold, at first helpless, decides not only to write her back, but to walk the whole way from Kingsbridge to Berwick-upon-Tweed.
During his walk, he will not only meet a lot of people, listen to their story, but also make a journey into his own past, his relation to both Maureen and Quennie and his son David. He is walking to save Queenie, but is he also saving himself?
Excerpts
first sentence
Links outside Open Library
- The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry - Wikipedia
- The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce – review
- The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce – review
- Quiet Man Gets a Life and Also a Blister
- Rachel Joyce’s “The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry,” reviewed by Ron Charles
- New York Times review
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Feedback?September 8, 2023 | Edited by bitnapper | Merge works (MRID: 78538) |
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