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The Unlikely Pilgrimage Of Harold Fry [Paperback]

Rachel Joyce (Author)
4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1,339 customer reviews)

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Book Description

Publication Date: 15 Mar 2012

When Harold Fry nips out one morning to post a letter, leaving his wife hoovering upstairs, he has no idea that he is about to walk from one end of the country to the other.

He has no hiking boots or map, let alone a compass, waterproof or mobile phone.

All he knows is that he must keep walking.

To save someone else's life.

Product details

  • Paperback: 304 pages
  • Publisher: Doubleday (15 Mar 2012)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 9780857520654
  • ISBN-13: 978-0857520654
  • ASIN: 0857520652
  • Product Dimensions: 15.3 x 2.2 x 23.4 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1,339 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 182,557 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Product Description

Review

One of the best books you'll read this year (Daily Mail )

Wonderful (Guardian )

At times almost unbearably moving (Sunday Times )

A brilliant and charming novel: full of comic panache yet acute and poignant (Spectator )

Tender and funny, The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry shows that even our frailties can be uplifting and redemptive. (Edward Stourton )

Book Description

An incredibly exciting debut from a wonderful new fiction voice: this is the tender, comic, and utterly captivating story of Harold Fry who takes a walk to save a life and whose journey will prove life-changing for him, the wife he leaves behind, and the people he meets along the way.
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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews
376 of 382 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars Charming, touching and engaging story 5 Jan 2012
By L. H. Healy TOP 100 REVIEWER VINE™ VOICE
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)
This is a delightful, poignant tale of a retired couple, Harold and Maureen, living out their days in Devon, when something happens that will change their future. And it is such a small occurrence on the face of it - a letter arrives for Harold from a former colleague of his at the brewery, Queenie Hennessy. Harold writes a reply, and he sets off down the road to post it. But then he continues walking. And carries on walking, and it becomes his purpose to get to Queenie, to save her, all the hundreds of miles away up in a Hospice in Berwick-upon-Tweed, on foot, in just his yachting shoes.

Beautifully understated, the story plays out so well, there is sadness, some very touching moments, and there is some very well-observed gentle humour too. For Harold, and for Maureen, there is the time and space to take stock and think about their lives together, their son David, and about the events in the past that have brought them to where they are now. Can things be different for them; can they heal the divide that has grown? The reader is not party to the full story until close to the end of the novel. So we can only guess at the reason behind Harold's determination, whatever the odds, to get to Queenie, though we know it's not romantic love.

There is hope despite the difficult times. There is some lovely prose as Harold recognises and admires the nature all around him. His journey becomes more than just one that concerns himself and Queenie; it grows to involve the people he meets on his way, such a variety, by and large he is enriched by his encounters and buoyed by them. He is taken into strangers' confidences, and realises that so many people, despite appearances, have this inner torment that they carry with them. There are beautiful, simple but striking insights into humans, made through Harold.

This is a gentle, touching and rewarding tale, and what a promising, engaging first novel; it's a real accomplishment. I feel sure very many readers will enjoy this.
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228 of 243 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars A wonderful book 31 Dec 2011
By Maggie TOP 1000 REVIEWER VINE™ VOICE
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)
Be prepared to confront your personal demons when you read this book. For the mature reader in particular, I challenge you not to find something in this novel to make you at the least uneasy. It is ultimately an uplifting story, but along the way there is a great deal of pain and for many there will be uncomfortable home truths about things that we could have handled better, regrets about slipping into complacency and about the loss of passion. There is the terrible pain caused by the loss of a child; the guilt engendered by failure to appreciate and help a friend; the estrangement of a once-loving couple - and the knowledge that many of these things cannot be put right however much you want to.

Harold's walk is the vehicle for exploring these ideas and more. A very ordinary and unassuming man, not in any sense a hero, Harold's whim to walk to Berwick on Tweed to see a dying friend and by so doing to save her from cancer, provides the author with the opportunity to weave in the stories of many other people who, in the words of Henry David Thoreau, are living "lives of quiet desperation". The people he meets on his journey are often kind and generous but many are battling their own demons. At one point the simple pilgrimage that Harold has unwittingly created clashes with our modern world of celebrity - represented by the PR men and tabloid journalists - and you pray for Harold to escape all this and revert to his simple goal.

In the end Harold and his wife Maureen - a somewhat stereotypical middle-aged woman with net curtains and a clipped way of speaking that discourages anything unconventional - do find resolution and redemption. To say more would spoil the story. Do read it - it will make you laugh and cry but it will not leave you untouched.
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54 of 58 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Overwhelming 23 Aug 2012
By Jade66
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
I glanced at a few of the reviews before buying this book, none of them do it justice and I doubt if mine will either. This is a wonderful story that entertains and disquiets in equal measure. Ostensibly it is about a man, just retired, who sets out to walk from Devon to Berwick on Tweed after receiving a letter from an old work colleague. The colleague, Queenie, is dying of cancer. Harold pens a quick reply and sets off to post it, but somehow the posting of this letter seems inadequate. He decides instead to walk the 500 odd miles to Berwick, taking us with him.

It is clear very early on that Harold's life has been a disappointment. An inability to connect with his son, (stemming from his own neglectful childhood) has driven a stake between him and his wife, Maureen, and what was once a good marriage has deteriorated into a hopeless desert of non communication.

It is during his long walk that we discover all about Harold, and Maureen, and their son David, and all about the long held grievances and misunderstandings that have culminated in their isolation and loneliness. Sometimes these memories are extremely painful and I found myself moved beyond belief at this fictional tale.

One of the 2 star reviews on this page unbelievably states "nothing much happens". Nothing could be further from the truth. Everything happens as this endearing man struggles to make sense of his life, struggles to find hope and optimism when doors have been closed resolutely in his face, and struggles to assert his humanity on an indifferent world.

This is a story about all those things we leave unsaid, of all those regrets we fight daily to forget. Wonderful writing, clear recognizable characters, a story that won't leave you, and an examination in depth of all those weird and wonderful contradictions that make us what we are.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars The unlikely pilgrimage of Harold Fry
An excellent read. As we travel with Harold on his walking journey we also take the journey inside with him and get an insight into the human experience and dilemmas of life;... Read more
Published 37 minutes ago by Ruby1
5.0 out of 5 stars It's in all of us!
This is a great read that meets the desire in all of us to 'just take off' and see where the road takes us. It's a story of love and connectedness through distance.. Read more
Published 1 hour ago by Sr M. Fitzsimmons
5.0 out of 5 stars An absorbing read.
An unusual and entertaining book. I enjoyed this story very much and as the story progressed and the events shaping the personalities of the main characters were gradually... Read more
Published 2 hours ago by Frenchie
5.0 out of 5 stars Can't put it down
This was a sweet, sad, funny, deep, moving and can't-put-down story. So glad I chose it for my holiday read as some nights I was reading 'til 3.30 am!
Published 11 hours ago by May Beale
5.0 out of 5 stars LIFE ,,,,, How many of us Look Back
I found this very moving, how many people could relate this to themselves? How many of us don't say what we really mean, who are too proud or frightened to say what we really want... Read more
Published 13 hours ago by laneybabe
5.0 out of 5 stars An unexpected good read
I do always read all the reviews about your books. I was not disappointed with all the great reviews . A book with a different story . It made me cry too.
Published 13 hours ago by E. Winter
5.0 out of 5 stars Unlikely but rings true
An unusual book - full of humanity and very touching. It tells how a very buttoned up elderly man finds himself through walking to see an old friend with cancer, and finally comes... Read more
Published 16 hours ago by K. M. Simpson
5.0 out of 5 stars An exceptional journey
Excellent book. modern pilgrimage. Trial of moral courage and determination, of relations within families. Wonderful read. Read more
Published 18 hours ago by Mrs. Irene M. Lewis
4.0 out of 5 stars A pleasant read
A nice enough book. Harold's journey is exhausting, physically and emotionally. This a story of healing, where the pilgrimage brings Harold in contact with people from all walks... Read more
Published 22 hours ago by Ms. K. M. Kelleher
5.0 out of 5 stars A great thought provoking read
How an ordinary man could have such a calming an d humble affect on so many people whom he met on his journey. Read more
Published 1 day ago by Jane Mc Loughlin
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