Maureen Fry and the Angel of the North: From the bestselling author of The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry (Harold Fry, 3)

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Joyce gives her characters insightful observations: “a person could be trapped in a version of themselves that was from another time, and completely miss the happiness that was staring them in the face” in this novella filled with humour and heartache, wit and wisdom. A Dish of Pomegranates by Peter Jukes : Shared roots and scattered families in the melting pot of modern Jerusalem.

Maybe, because it was shorter, or maybe because I am so emotionally attached to Queenie, I didn’t quite connect to this one in the same way. With elements of sorrow, insight, humor and wisdom, Maureen by Rachel Joyce is a moving and impactful read. I had read both The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessyand really enjoyed it, so I was happy to pick up this third book in the Harold Fry series. Despite this she puts on her driving shoes, gathers her determination and sets off, in the darkness of January.

But really, Maureen's brain and heart were brewing discontent, with no way that she could see to relieve it, other than sometimes erupting in anger at those around her. Am I going to find out next that the gentle, kind neighbor Rex has to go through some terrible, health threatening trial before he can be happy, when I have innocently thought he was content all along. Realizing that she really had not quite let go of the characters, she decided to finally let Maureen have a voice.

The final novel in the Harold Fry trilogy, this is a heart-stopping story told from the view point of his wife Maureen as she takes her own journey and discovers how to reconnect with the world. I couldn’t connect to the main character, Maureen, at all and frankly, I was quite bored sometimes while reading this one. If you loved The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry and The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy, make time to read this finale to the trilogy . The first half of the book was disturbing to me because Maureen didn't need to have such a terrible time of it if Harold hadn't encouraged her to take a trip for which she was so ill prepared. I had no idea when I started this book that it was so short - that's often a problem with Kindle unless you check the stats before you start.Years earlier, Queenie had made a memorial garden by the sea using found objects washed up by the ocean in combination with greenery and flowers. It’s a short story, only 128 pages, which was my only lament as I really could have read so much more about Maureen. Maureen is a wonderful, frustrating character--so rigid, and so frightened of what she might learn about herself and her own past. Queenie’s, no famous, Sea Garden is delightfully described and provides Maureen with a great focus, one she doesn’t necessarily appreciate to begin with. As early as her first days in school she learned she wasn't all that after all and it was downhill from there.

We all have some Maureen inside us, and so the journey we take with her across England and into her own personal tumult is a satisfying, visceral one. Maureen Fry was a complex and rather carmudgeonly figure that begged to be fleshed out among this trilogy of characters. This is book 3 in the Harold Fry trilogy and while it helps to have read them all, it’s not essential.

I can't think of any other novelist quite as tender and compassionate as Rachel Joyce, who understands that miracle of transformation when human fragility becomes strength of spirit.

This fascinating compendium traces phobias and manias through their rich social, cultural and medical history. That had been the case with the first two books in this series: “The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry” and (especially) “The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy”. By the story's end, Maureen had thawed somewhat and grew a bit more understanding of other people and herself. And so she decides it is her turn to taA testament to just how exquisitely Rachel Joyce understands people, and written with kindness and such perception. This unbiased review is from an uncorrected proof copy provided by NetGalley and Random House UK Transworld. For example, I loved The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy, but did not care for The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry. There has been too much hurt and embarrassment from her childhood belief that she was the center of the world and that she would be the one to conquer it every step of the way.