At first indication, Harold Fry is a depressing, lonely, vanilla-esque English pensioner who has the personality of a wet sack.
Sounds interesting, eh? Just wait, because Mr. Fry is about to receive a letter that will shake him out of his tedious life and send him on trek of self-discovery. Readers will learn that behind every quiet man’s demeanor there just might be a delight to unearth. Wet sacks have imaginations as well.
One day, Harold receives a letter from an old colleague, Queenie, whom he used to work with at the brewery. Queenie is dying in a hospice that is over 600 miles from Harold’s home on the English Channel and Harold feels regret over a previous betrayal. He decides that he will write a letter and walks down to the post to mail it.
Impulsively, he just keeps walking. He feels deep in his heart that as long as he is walking he can keep Queenie alive. So, off he goes with no raincoat, no map and only his yacht shoes as protection. It’s hard to know who is more surprised by this: Harold or his wife, Maureen, who at first feels abandoned but later comes around to see Harold as the young man she married.
There are cultish overtones and elements of fable to Harold’s story. Believing Harold is a type of messiah, a group of followers collects around him, a development that both inspires and confuses Harold. Later, they take on his cause and move it away from Harold’s original purpose – saving Queenie.
Along the way he meets many other characters, some of which join him for a meal, a chat, or to give assistance/advice. In spite of the fact, or perhaps because some interactions are negative in nature, Harold rediscovers humanity. He realizes a new zeal for life and learns that there is more to people than he ever knew.
This book is a wonderful, if not always obvious, awakening of the spirit. Joyce’s writing is uncomplicated and welcoming with a humourous undertone that I very much enjoyed. It would be an excellent read for a new graduate, as it dissects the notion of living life to its fullest and getting the most out of our limited time here on Earth. 4/5
