An excellent novel about Harold Fry, a recently retired teatotalling salesman for a beer distributor who lives with his wife Maureen in the southwestern corner of England. Harold's life feels meaningless. His marriage limps along with very little real communication, and Maureen seems to disapprove of everything he does. Harold mows the lawn and nods at the neighbors when necessary, and basically does what's expected of him. But he never takes a risk, tries anything new, or feels passion for anything.

One day, Harold receives a letter in the mail from Queenie Hennessy, a woman he worked with 20 years ago and hasn't heard from since. She says she is dying of cancer in a hospice in Scotland. He writes a response and walks to the mailbox to send it, but then he reconsiders. To give himself time to think about why he's resisting the idea of mailing his letter, he decides to walk toward town to the next mailbox. And then the next. Somewhere along the way, Harold decides that writing is not enough. He wants to see Queenie in person before she dies, so he decides to keep walking until he reaches her, despite the fact that she's more than 500 miles away. In fact, he convinces himself that Queenie will not die as long as he keeps walking toward her.

Wearing the wrong shoes, lacking a map, and without even going home for a jacket, Harold just keeps walking. Along the way, he meets some crazy, some touching, and some memorable characters. A teenage girl at a gas station mini-mart gives him hope by spouting meaningless platitudes that somehow manage to inspire him. An Eastern European doctor takes him in for a night and treats his injured feet. A dog chooses to accompany him for a time. A troubled young man in his 20s, who brings up painful memories of Harold's own son, becomes a companion for part of the journey. And as Harold's story gets out, a ragtag group of followers join him, and he finds himself the leader of sort of a cult.

Harold's journey is not just a physical one. Throughout the story, we see Harold (and his wife back home) wrestling with the events of their past that have brought them to this point. And we see Harold move from a disengaged observer of life to a man who embraces without judgment whatever comes his way.

At times, he makes decisions that seem unbelievably stupid, but suspending your disbelief isn't difficult here,because the story feels almost like a parable.

This is a completely enjoyable and touching book! There's a movie version coming out. I hope they don't ruin it.

I'm bringing this to the BC-DC meetup at Birdie's Cafe today, so that it can either find a Bookcrosser or other Birdie's patron to go home with today, or wait on the shelves of the OBCZ there until the right reader comes along.


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