I read the first book in this trilogy, about Harold Fry's unlikely pilgrimage when it first came out, and disliked it at that time for being , as I saw it, fey and sentimental. So I didn't read the second book, abut Queenie. But Rachel Joyce came to our indie bookshop to talk about this, her last book in the trilogy, so of course I went, and was totally disarmed by her warmth, wit and enthusiasm, and started reading in a more positive frame of mind. It gently pulls you into Maureen's world of limited horizons, somewhat adrift, and ongoing grief about her son David who committed suicide twenty years ago, and her decision to visit Queenie's memorial garden on the Northumbrian coast, because it also a memorial to her son there. A gentle account of her difficult and - for her- courageous journey: and of her gradual acceptance of a woman totally unlike herself, who had befriended her husband on his journey, and of her son's death. I say gradual- perhaps it was rather sudden really. But this story is an unexpectedly rewarding and powerful read. ( )

It has taken her 10 years, but Harold Fry's wife finally takes her own pilgrimage in “Maureen” (2022) by Rachel Joyce.

“The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry,” Joyce's first novel, was an unlikely bestseller. It tells the story of a retired man who, hearing that a woman he used to work with is dying, sets off on foot to post a letter to her. Instead he keeps walking, realizing he must deliver his letter to Queenie in person, while Maureen, his wife, frets at home.

Harold loves his wife, not Queenie, yet still their work relationship was close and Maureen disapproved. In “The Love Song of Queenie Hennessy,” Joyce gives us Queenie's story. It turns out that she, in fact, has loved Harold for years. Now Joyce completes the powerful trilogy.

In the background of each novel stands the tragic suicide of Harold and Maureen's son, David. He has now been dead for 30 years, yet Maureen has not stopped mourning. As if Harold walking all the way to see Queenie one last time were not bad enough, Maureen has learned that Queenie had built a garden in tribute to David, which has now become a small tourist attraction. Maureen decides she must finally visit that garden, and so she sets off on her own in a car one morning.

Joyce paints a picture of an introverted, easily offended woman uncomfortable around strangers. And so her pilgrimage is much different that her husband's. Her trials are many, yet she ultimately finds the garden, finds David, finds a friend ( )

“Maureen was not an easy person. She knew this. She was not an easy person to like and she wasn’t good at making friends. She had once joined a book club but she objected to the things they read, and gave up. There was always someone between her and everyone else and that was her son. This year he would have turned fifty.”

The third and final book in the Harold Fry trilogy by Rachel Joyce revolves around Maureen Fry, Harold’s wife, who we have met in the previous two installments but get to know a bit better in this short novel. We meet Maureen ten years after Harold’s “unlikely pilgrimage “ from Kingsbridge to Berwick-upon-Tweed to meet the terminally ill Queenie. Their relationship is now more stable and we see them as a caring couple in post-pandemic 2022. Rex, their neighbor remains a friend and agrees to look out for Harold when Maureen embarks on a short trip up north for a purpose close to her heart. As she drives up to Embleton Bay, we are privy to Maureen’s memories of her childhood and her private thoughts on Harold and the events from ten years ago, their marriage, Queenie, and her memories of her son David who has been gone thirty years. Maureen is by no measure as affable as Harold and is not quite comfortable meeting strangers. Thus this journey is not an easy one for her – neither the drive nor the memories but it is a journey that will affect change in the way she views the world, the people around her and most importantly herself.

“People imagined they might reach each other, but it wasn’t true. No one understood another’s grief or another’s joy. People were not see-through at all.”

With elements of sorrow, insight, humor and wisdom, Maureen by Rachel Joyce is a moving and impactful read. There is no doubt that the author writes beautifully and is capable of exploring human emotions with honesty and compassion. As we are given a window into her thoughts and feelings, you can feel Maureen’s pain, confusion, guilt and grief. Maureen was not a favorite character for me, though I did sympathize with her. Rachel Joyce gives us readers the opportunity to not only get to know her as a person but to understand her motivations and in doing so enriches the story that began with Harold Fry’s 600 mile walk. The narrative flows easily and though this is a short novel, it does pack an emotional punch. What did bother me a bit is that due to the short length of the novel Maureen’s insight, realization and transformation did feel a tad rushed. But overall, I'm glad I got to spend time with Maureen. I also loved the segment at the end of the book titled “An Email Correspondence with Maureen Fry” which details email exchanges (fictitious of course) between the author and Maureen.

I’d recommend reading the books in the series order as it would be difficult to relate to the events mentioned in this book without knowledge of the characters’ backstories and past events.

“She had lived her life as if she was owed something extra because he had been taken away, and other women’s sons had not. She thought of Harold watching for birds and how his face lit up when he saw a bluethroat. To have lived a whole life and then find wonder in a tiny creature covered with feathers, weighing no more than a coin. What was it all for, if not for that? She felt the painful shock of joy that floods in, like blood pushing into a limb that has been starved. It was about forgiveness, the whole story.”

Many thanks to author Rachel Joyce, Random House Publishing Group and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an advance copy of this novel and share my thoughts. All opinions expressed in this review are my own. ( )

This is not among my favorite Rachel Joyce books. Let’s just admit it - Maureen is hard to like. She is difficult, she is negative, she finds fault, she is frozen in grief and has been in that state for thirty years. She is angry and that anger is eating her alive. She sees no future for herself and admits to living a ghost life. Whew, tough stuff when you lay it alongside sweet and likable Harold Fry.

The road trip doesn’t enliven the story. She is stuck in the car alone “with no Harold to dilute here”. - the story circles the drain. Even the modicum of redemption late in the book didn’t make me like the book or the character. What I did like was Rachel Joyce’s writing and her ability to embrace and define Maureen.

Thanks to The Dial press and NetGalley for a copy. ( )

This completes the story of Harold Fry's journey. Ten years after Harold set out on his famous walk, his wife Maureen sets out on her own journey by car to visit the garden that Queenie Hennessy established before her death. That garden is said to contain a tribute to Maureen and Harold's son who died by his own hand 30 years before.
Maureen is a difficult character to like. She is angry, impatient, judgemental, and rigid. She recalls being a difficult child and the loss of her son has only magnified these traits as she had mourned him these past 30 years. Her interactions with people she encounters at the outset of her trip are manifest to her anger and grief. Eventually there is a catharsis in Queenie's garden and she is able to accept help from one of the people that Harold met up with on his own journey.

I know other people love this series....I don't. But I can see that the author has a talent for characterizing ordinary people in her writing. ( )