The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry; Rachel Joyce. [Random House]

Working in a book shop, you might find it strange of me to say that I’m not the biggest fan of the majority 

of Man Booker nominees. Over the past few years, I have honestly tried my best to work my way from long list to short list, but often find myself in the zone of distraction with the emergence of a new release or addition to a favourite series.
However, I am happy to announce that I have fallen in love with Rachel Joyce’s “The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry”, a 2012 long listed beauty for the Man Booker Prize.

Meet Harold Fry, a quiet, ordinary and recently retired Brewery worker who makes it his business not to know anybody else’s. Living in an ordinary southern English town, in a run of the mil house, with a flowerless lawn and a decaying marriage, Harold is not particularly interesting, let alone adventurous, and lives a very much ordinary, if not depressing life.

Until one morning…

…mixed up in various bills and junk mail, Harold finds a letter that, unknowingly, is about to lead him on the path of self revelation.
Old acquaintances and colleagues, Harold Fry and Queenie Hennessy parted years previously due to an unfortunate scandal, and now, lying on her death bed at the opposite end of the English channel; Queenie writes to say her Goodbyes. In hand with his ‘um...Sorry to hear that’ reply, Harold arrives at the nearest post box through tearful eyes…then keeps on walking.

Believing in Faith and his old yachting shoes, Harold begins the 627 mile walk to Queenie’s hospice, in Hope of keeping her alive.
Through a journey of weeping blisters, shin splints, back and heart ache, Harold discovers just what he’s missing in his life…ADVENTURE. Understandably, Harold’s pilgrimage isn’t just straight roads and sunshine. Through the turns and bends, the steep hills and dark tunnels and the STRANGE-rs he encounters, Harold’s thoughts wonder with each step and he finds himself reminiscing about past mistakes, his withering marriage, the son who never speaks to him, and the ever so evident childhood pain, left as a parting gift by his Mother.

Will Harold’s unlikely pilgrimage become too much for his ageing feet and old yachting shoes? Or will each step spark motivation for the rest and help to keep Queenie alive?

Beautiful, touching, thought provoking and real, his novel made me blubber like a baby and snort like an idiot. To be short listed, let alone WIN the Man Booker Prize of 2012? I personally don’t think so, but from my experience that’s not necessarily a bad thing; some of the best books on the shelves don’t win awards. 

"The world was made up of people putting one foot in front of the other; and a life might appear ordinary simply because the person living it had been doing so for a long time."