the unlikely pilgrimage of harold fry review

Harold becomes more flexible, gaining self-acceptance and acceptance of others’ foibles too. Although my emotionally-stunted character refuses to spend a night away from home, Harold’s rigidity and childhood damage reminds me of Henry in my forthcoming novel, Matilda Windsor Is Coming Home.

It gives a refreshingly honest account of the legacy of a loveless childhood, and how love turns to hate when tragedy splits couples apart. He’s greeted with kindness, but his dishevelled appearance is also met with distaste. I liked how his mood sinks and soars, as does his popularity once the press get hold of his story.

Rachel Joyce has pulled off a remarkable feat in telling a whimsical story with genuine emotional depth. While only Harold is on a geographical journey – although Maureen does drive to Darlington with neighbour Rex to try to persuade him home – both travel further than they’ve ever done in their hearts and minds.Īlthough I can’t believe Harold survived the trek in yachting shoes, I agree with the hype about this 2012 bestselling book. Loneliness is an opportunity for both to reflect on their long marriage, their troubled son, David, and the crisis that banished love from their home. As Maureen, his wife, says, he never usually walks further than the car.Īs Harold battles blisters, scorching sun and bitter rain, Maureen stays at home, missing him. Yet part of him knows the whole enterprise is ridiculous. He feels indebted to Queenie Hennessy for her kindness to him twenty years ago. He’s got it in his head he can keep an old friend alive by walking through England to her hospice. So he’s the least likely person to set off to walk 600+ miles from South Devon to the Scottish Borders. Harold has done little beyond getting under his wife’s feet since retiring six months ago. The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce Thanks to publishers Europa editions for what was ultimately an enjoyable read. But it’s also distancing, and is less successful in the first third of this novella, featuring a pilgrimage of an (at that point) unknown mother and son. The simple prose perfectly portrays a legendary desert landscape and a timeless story of misogyny and scapegoating. The third is a token of reconciliation who must relate her story for her body to be accepted into an island cemetery. The first is the product of marital rape the second a miraculous manifestation of her rage. Salina is three times a mother, although her sons never meet. But when they discover she stood by as her husband lay dying on the battlefield, the community casts her into exile.

By tradition, a widow marries her husband’s brother: in this case a man Salina has loved since childhood. Forced into marriage with the son of the village headman, war with a neighbouring tribe sets her free. A silent stranger left her as a howling baby at the village boundary where hyenas circled until a woman took her in.

The unlikely pilgrimage of harold fry review