(note to self: learn to take better pictures!)
Blurb:
“When Harold Fry leaves home one morning to post a letter,
with his wife hovering 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.”
My thoughts:
The first thing I’ll say about this is that if, like me, you
think the book sounds like a thriller from the blurb, you’re wrong. It doesn’t
matter though because, although it’s not a thriller, it doesn’t disappoint at
all.
The Sunday Express reviewer claimed it made them laugh and
sob and I couldn’t agree more; especially towards the end. The book follows
Harold as he walks from his house to Berwick after he receives a letter from an
old colleague of his. On the journey, Harold meets various people, discovers
fame, and has time to think about his past and his relationship with his wife,
Maureen.
I kept telling myself that the next chapter would be last
but it got harder and harder to put the book down. Rachel writes in such a way
that you can’t help but get drawn into Harold’s life; you laugh with him, sob
with him, share the moments that give him elation as well as those that make
him sad.
It shattered some illusions I had about elderly couples (whenever
I saw elderly couples together before reading this book, I always assumed that
they were happy and had been together for many years – this book proves that’s
not always the case) but it gave me some kind of renewed hope about love and
relationships. It also proved the kindness of strangers that, sadly, we
sometimes forget exists.
The book focuses on more than just a hard walk from one end
of the country to another… It focuses on the reality of some relationships and
the affect grief can have. It looks at regret and grief but in a way that
resolves in happiness.
‘The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry’ is dangerously easy
to read but worth staying up for. Just make sure you have some tissues nearby…
You’re more than likely going to need them!
What was the last book you read that made you cry?