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In Rachel Joyce’s novel The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, she explores the life of a man who goes on an adventure to find a woman he met once.
Harold Fry is sitting down to breakfast when he receives a letter. His wife, Maureen, brings it to him. He opens the letter and finds out that Queenie Hennessy from his old job at the brewery has cancer and is dying in a hospice. Harold’s wife expresses sympathy for Queenie but then goes upstairs to David’s room which she keeps clean in case he returns home one day.
Harold thinks about the letter he got from Queenie. They weren’t very close, but they shared kindnesses with each other and thought of themselves as friends. Harold recently retired, and he and his wife have no friends to speak of. They spend most of their time together, avoiding community events such as company parties, and they’ve avoided getting to know their neighbors. He feels a powerful desire to let her know that she meant something to him when she was alive. He sits down at the table with pen in hand, trying hard to think of something grand or moving that he could say in response. However, nothing comes out right; it’s unsatisfying for him both emotionally and intellectually. So instead of writing anything down, Harold decides just to mail the letter. But then again, after walking past one mailbox after another without stopping, Harold realizes that maybe what Queenie really needs is not a reply from him but rather an answer from someone else who cared about her too.
While stopping at a gas station to get lunch, Harold talks about his wife Queenie, who has cancer. The clerk tells him that her aunt also had cancer and how she got through it. She says she was helped by her faith in God. As he walks toward the hospice where Queenie is staying, Harold realizes he has no faith from which to draw comfort for himself or his dying wife. He calls the hospital where Queenie is staying and leaves a message for her: He’s walking there; she should stay alive until he gets there.
Harold meets a man named Harry and tells him about his plan to walk to the hospice. Harold calls Maureen, who doesn’t understand what he’s doing or why. He continues walking with only the clothes on his back. At home, Maureen worries that Harold is abandoning her like his mother did when she left them for good. She confides in their neighbor Rex, who is surprisingly kind and helpful. They become friends of sorts; she talks to David (who might be a ghost or imaginary) about Queenie (Harold’s mother), whom David never met but says was a good woman until she abandoned her family for good as well.
Harold is walking. He’s contemplating his life, and he reveals that his son died twenty years ago. Harold thinks that David was troubled because of the way he brought him up; Harold blames himself for this failing as well as for not being a good father to David. Maureen also blames Harold, but they both suspect there may be a genetic connection to David’s alcoholism.
Harold injures himself and is taken in by Martina, a Slovakian doctor. He remembers his father’s death from dementia. Harold accepts that he will never see David again, but also realizes that he has lost many other things as well: his childhood, his son’s life; they are all gone now.
Harold reaches the town of Bath and realizes that his shoes are worn out. The cobbler’s shop is closed, so he washes up at a bathhouse. He meets an actor in the restroom who is upset about being mobbed by people outside.
Maureen looks through old photos and remembers Harold’s presence in most of them. She realizes that she was wrong about him being distant from David, unlike how she remembered it. She decides to forgive him and start over with their relationship.
