The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry - book review

The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry

by Rachel Joyce

January 2014

Another book read from end to end in little more than 24 hours and what a contrast to Never Coming Back, my last review.

I was attracted to the quirky title and dust cover synopsis:

A newly retired man of 65 receives a letter from a colleague he lost track of 20 years ago telling him that she is dying of cancer.

His response? To walk from his Devon home to Berwick on Tweed with no preparation or hiking kit, leaving behind his bemused wife Maureen and her relationship with their son David.

To Harold it wasa man on a mission - he believed that if he could each her on foot she would live, but it was so much more than that. It was a journey of discovery about Harold, Maureen, their lives together and all the baggage they carried. But it was even more than that. It was a journey which touched the lives of all those around them and far from being a pointless pilgrimage it highlighted the only thing that really matters - the impact we have on one another.

There were large chunks of Forrest Gump on his cross country run, but its all very quirky and English. 

In the end the further he and Maureen are from each other in the physical sense the closer they become emotionally. I guess its a love story with a couple of twists at the end. but on both counts I have to admit to having my suspicions all along.

If I have whetted your appetite, go get a copy. It will make you laugh and make you cry but it will never leave you short changed.