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Harold Fry #3
Maureen
From the bestselling author of The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry comes a moving novel told from the point of view of Harold’s wife Maureen. Now undertaking her own journey, Maureen will discover a way to reconnect with the world she’s closed a door on.
Maureen Fry has settled into the quiet life she shares with her husband after his iconic walk across England ten years ago. When an unexpected message from the North disturbs her equilibrium again, it is now her turn to make a journey. But Maureen is not like Harold. By turns outspoken, then vulnerable, she struggles to form bonds with the people she meets, and the landscape she crosses has radically changed. And Maureen has no sense of what she will find at the end of the road. All she knows is that she has to get there.
Maureen is a deeply felt, lyrical, and powerful novel, full of warmth and kindness, about love, loss, and how we come to terms with the past in order to understand ourselves and our lives a little better. While it stands alone, it is also the extraordinarily moving finale to a trilogy that began with the phenomenal bestseller The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry and continued in The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy. What was started by Harold, only Maureen can complete.
Maureen Fry has settled into the quiet life she shares with her husband after his iconic walk across England ten years ago. When an unexpected message from the North disturbs her equilibrium again, it is now her turn to make a journey. But Maureen is not like Harold. By turns outspoken, then vulnerable, she struggles to form bonds with the people she meets, and the landscape she crosses has radically changed. And Maureen has no sense of what she will find at the end of the road. All she knows is that she has to get there.
Maureen is a deeply felt, lyrical, and powerful novel, full of warmth and kindness, about love, loss, and how we come to terms with the past in order to understand ourselves and our lives a little better. While it stands alone, it is also the extraordinarily moving finale to a trilogy that began with the phenomenal bestseller The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry and continued in The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy. What was started by Harold, only Maureen can complete.
192 pages, Kindle Edition
First published February 7, 2023
365 people are currently reading
8782 people want to read
About the author
Rachel Joyce
29 books3,347 followersRachel Joyce has written over 20 original afternoon plays for BBC Radio 4, and major adaptations for both the Classic Series, Woman's Hour and also a TV drama adaptation for BBC 2. In 2007 she won the Tinniswood Award for best radio play. She moved to writing after a twenty-year career in theatre and television, performing leading roles for the RSC, the Royal National Theatre, The Royal Court, and Cheek by Jowl, winning a Time Out Best Actress award and the Sony Silver.
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February 7, 2023
Maureen (A Harold Fry Novel) by Rachel Joyce
After Harold Fry's journey, which takes place at the same time as Queenie's journey, I thought Harold's wife, Maureen, had reached her own better emotional place. She did in a way, she knew she was glad to have Harold with her even if his time is spent peacefully playing games or looking at nature with their neighbor, Rex. Maureen even went through some major steps to attempt closure concerning the suicide of their son, David, thirty years ago. 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. So sadly, I couldn't leave Harold and Maureen living happily ever after with their neighbor, Rex, because along comes the third book in the series, entitled Maureen.
Maureen is no tiptoe through the tulips, waving at butterflies type of woman. 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. As early as her first days in school she learned she wasn't all that after all and it was downhill from there. Once Harold and Maureen had their only son, she wanted to be the best parent to him but things did not work out at all. I think the term "difficult child" applied to both Maureen and David and that difficulty can lead to the term "difficult adult".
Just like Harold went on his spontaneous walking trip to visit Queenie, ten years after Queenie's death, Maureen embarks on a driving trip to visit Queenie's famous garden. Maureen has more time to prepare but in many ways she is just as unprepared for her special journey as Harold was for his. 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. Then Maureen hits rock (or wood) bottom and has to ask for help from the least likely person. The second part of the story is a transformation for Maureen and I liked that part of the book better although I feel like I can't trust it.
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. Really, what a wonderful side character Rex has been for me throughout this series. I hope Rex can live on in peace. Overall, I enjoyed this series very much but it shows me that the less I know about some people, the better.
Publication: February 7th 2023
Thank you to Random House, Dial Press Trade Paperback and NetGalley for this ARC.
After Harold Fry's journey, which takes place at the same time as Queenie's journey, I thought Harold's wife, Maureen, had reached her own better emotional place. She did in a way, she knew she was glad to have Harold with her even if his time is spent peacefully playing games or looking at nature with their neighbor, Rex. Maureen even went through some major steps to attempt closure concerning the suicide of their son, David, thirty years ago. 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. So sadly, I couldn't leave Harold and Maureen living happily ever after with their neighbor, Rex, because along comes the third book in the series, entitled Maureen.
Maureen is no tiptoe through the tulips, waving at butterflies type of woman. 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. As early as her first days in school she learned she wasn't all that after all and it was downhill from there. Once Harold and Maureen had their only son, she wanted to be the best parent to him but things did not work out at all. I think the term "difficult child" applied to both Maureen and David and that difficulty can lead to the term "difficult adult".
Just like Harold went on his spontaneous walking trip to visit Queenie, ten years after Queenie's death, Maureen embarks on a driving trip to visit Queenie's famous garden. Maureen has more time to prepare but in many ways she is just as unprepared for her special journey as Harold was for his. 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. Then Maureen hits rock (or wood) bottom and has to ask for help from the least likely person. The second part of the story is a transformation for Maureen and I liked that part of the book better although I feel like I can't trust it.
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. Really, what a wonderful side character Rex has been for me throughout this series. I hope Rex can live on in peace. Overall, I enjoyed this series very much but it shows me that the less I know about some people, the better.
Publication: February 7th 2023
Thank you to Random House, Dial Press Trade Paperback and NetGalley for this ARC.
March 13, 2023
“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.
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.
February 7, 2023
3.5 ⭐️ rounded down
I read A LOT of books, so a few weeks after I finish one, I am often forgetting the details of story.
But a FEW books, stay in our hearts, and become the ones you recommend over and over again, no matter how many years have passed. 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”.
In the first, Harold Fry had set out to post a letter to his former co-worker, and friend Queenie, who has written to him to say “goodbye” after finding out that her illness is terminal. But, somehow, he gets it in his head that Queenie will stay alive, until she gets his reply, so he decides to hand deliver the note instead. He walks 627 miles to her bedside, becoming a bit of a local celebrity along the way. (4⭐️)
The second book, is the tale of what Queenie and her friends at Hospice, are doing, while Harold makes his pilgrimage. They follow his progress on TV, and implore Queenie to hang on! I saw Harold in a more positive light in this installment, and bawled like a blubbering baby! (5⭐️)
But, how did Harold’s wife, Maureen feel during all of this? They had been living in the same home, but fairly estranged prior to his walk-and she didn’t come across as the warmest person, BUT-was she really okay with it, when it all began?!
Book three (more of a novella) is her journey of reconciliation-and definitely not a stand-alone.
Although readers may have pondered this question over the years, Rachel Joyce didn’t originally envision this as a trilogy although one reader told her years ago, that it absolutely was. Realizing that she really had not quite let go of the characters, she decided to finally let Maureen have a voice.
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.
But, I am glad to have read it, and to have gained some insight into Maureen.
I love that THIS book, is helping Harold Fry and Queenie Hennessy find a whole new audience with its release!
AND-I also love what the author shared in the opening prologue-that once she turned in the final draft for this book-she went into her garden, and imagined a new set of characters and questions who had been “politely standing out of view”-ready to talk to her, when she was ready.
I can’t wait to meet them!
AVAILABLE NOW!
Thank You to Random House for the invitation to read an early copy of this book, provided through NetGalley! It was my pleasure to offer a candid review!
I read A LOT of books, so a few weeks after I finish one, I am often forgetting the details of story.
But a FEW books, stay in our hearts, and become the ones you recommend over and over again, no matter how many years have passed. 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”.
In the first, Harold Fry had set out to post a letter to his former co-worker, and friend Queenie, who has written to him to say “goodbye” after finding out that her illness is terminal. But, somehow, he gets it in his head that Queenie will stay alive, until she gets his reply, so he decides to hand deliver the note instead. He walks 627 miles to her bedside, becoming a bit of a local celebrity along the way. (4⭐️)
The second book, is the tale of what Queenie and her friends at Hospice, are doing, while Harold makes his pilgrimage. They follow his progress on TV, and implore Queenie to hang on! I saw Harold in a more positive light in this installment, and bawled like a blubbering baby! (5⭐️)
But, how did Harold’s wife, Maureen feel during all of this? They had been living in the same home, but fairly estranged prior to his walk-and she didn’t come across as the warmest person, BUT-was she really okay with it, when it all began?!
Book three (more of a novella) is her journey of reconciliation-and definitely not a stand-alone.
Although readers may have pondered this question over the years, Rachel Joyce didn’t originally envision this as a trilogy although one reader told her years ago, that it absolutely was. Realizing that she really had not quite let go of the characters, she decided to finally let Maureen have a voice.
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.
But, I am glad to have read it, and to have gained some insight into Maureen.
I love that THIS book, is helping Harold Fry and Queenie Hennessy find a whole new audience with its release!
AND-I also love what the author shared in the opening prologue-that once she turned in the final draft for this book-she went into her garden, and imagined a new set of characters and questions who had been “politely standing out of view”-ready to talk to her, when she was ready.
I can’t wait to meet them!
AVAILABLE NOW!
Thank You to Random House for the invitation to read an early copy of this book, provided through NetGalley! It was my pleasure to offer a candid review!
November 3, 2022
This is a beautifully written, moving and poignant novella, part of Rachel Joyce's Harold Fry trilogy, a decade after Harold returned from his pilgrimage, he and Maureen learn of a memorial at Queenie's Sea Garden to their son, David, who they had lost so many years ago. This loss has festered inside Maureen, a grief she has never been able to address, burying it deep inside. Although it takes some time for her to make the decision, it is now Maureen's turn to go on a journey, to Embleton Bay, this time by car, she needs to see that memorial. However, Maureen is nothing like Harold, she struggles to relate to or connect with those she does not know, making those she encounters a taxing experience for her.
She finds staying at Kate's home hard to handle, finding it over stuffed with items and the dirt too much for her, and cannot wait to leave. When Maureen sees the memorial to David, and to Harold, she is far from happy, and when she is injured, she finds herself relying on the care offered by the compassionate Kate. At long last, Maureen finds herself facing up to the grief she has locked inside her. There is humour, wit, joy and wisdom in this insightful, delightful, emotional and heartwarming narrative of heartbreaking loss, grief, and personal growth as we begin to understand how Maureen came to be who she is.
Maureen finds herself embarking on the most challenging of journeys, finding answers in the most surprising of places, all conspiring to bring much needed changes in her life. A wonderful and unforgettable read from this talented author. Many thanks to the publisher for an ARC.
She finds staying at Kate's home hard to handle, finding it over stuffed with items and the dirt too much for her, and cannot wait to leave. When Maureen sees the memorial to David, and to Harold, she is far from happy, and when she is injured, she finds herself relying on the care offered by the compassionate Kate. At long last, Maureen finds herself facing up to the grief she has locked inside her. There is humour, wit, joy and wisdom in this insightful, delightful, emotional and heartwarming narrative of heartbreaking loss, grief, and personal growth as we begin to understand how Maureen came to be who she is.
Maureen finds herself embarking on the most challenging of journeys, finding answers in the most surprising of places, all conspiring to bring much needed changes in her life. A wonderful and unforgettable read from this talented author. Many thanks to the publisher for an ARC.
March 11, 2023
If you didn’t enjoy The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry or The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy, then I wouldn’t recommend this one . But if you loved those books and those characters as I did, don’t miss this one, a story focused on Harold’s wife bringing the reader full circle around the lives of these characters. In the lovely preface to the novel, Joyce describes her thought process around the three characters with a metaphor of “the sticky closet door”. Harold and Queenie are given their due and moved through “the sticky closet door” by Joyce and into my heart in the first two books. Maureen in those books was for me a bit of an enigma, but when Joyce decided that she’s entitled to her due, I was compelled to follow her on her own journey ten years after Harold’s .
Maureen, thinks of herself as not a nice person and at times, she’s not. She’s angry at times, sometimes down right nasty, but I mostly saw her as a grieving mother, trying to find a way to go on,a way to cope with her loss. When she discovers that Queenie made a sea side garden and in it a monument to Maureen and Harold’s son David, she knows she has to see it. It turned out to be a gift to a grieving mother, whose journey there allows her to make peace with others, but mostly with herself.
Maureen’s journey unlike Harold’s is not a walk, but a car ride. It’s not as open and inclusive as Harold’s, but a more private, solo venture. Yet, there are a few people that she meets along the way that are kind and generous as Harold encountered ten years earlier. It’s a bit quirky, sad, funny and very moving. Even though its less than two hundred pages, Rachel Joyce manages to get Maureen through that “sticky closet door “ and into my heart. Her imagined interview with Maureen at the end is priceless.
I received a copy of this book from Dial Press/Random House through NetGalley.
Maureen, thinks of herself as not a nice person and at times, she’s not. She’s angry at times, sometimes down right nasty, but I mostly saw her as a grieving mother, trying to find a way to go on,a way to cope with her loss. When she discovers that Queenie made a sea side garden and in it a monument to Maureen and Harold’s son David, she knows she has to see it. It turned out to be a gift to a grieving mother, whose journey there allows her to make peace with others, but mostly with herself.
Maureen’s journey unlike Harold’s is not a walk, but a car ride. It’s not as open and inclusive as Harold’s, but a more private, solo venture. Yet, there are a few people that she meets along the way that are kind and generous as Harold encountered ten years earlier. It’s a bit quirky, sad, funny and very moving. Even though its less than two hundred pages, Rachel Joyce manages to get Maureen through that “sticky closet door “ and into my heart. Her imagined interview with Maureen at the end is priceless.
I received a copy of this book from Dial Press/Random House through NetGalley.
November 1, 2022
EXCERPT: It was too early for birdsong. Harold lay beside her, his hands neat on his chest, looking so peaceful she wondered where he travelled in his sleep. Certainly not the places she went: if she closed her eyes, she saw roadworks. Dear God, she thought. This is no good. She got up in the pitch-black, took off her nightdress and put on her best blue blouse with a pair of comfortable slacks and a cardigan. 'Harold?' she called. 'Are you awake?' But he didn't stir. She picked up her shoes and shut the bedroom door without a sound. If she didn't go now, she never would.
ABOUT 'MAUREEN FRY AND THE ANGEL OF THE NORTH': Ten years ago, Harold Fry set off on his epic journey on foot to save a friend. But the story doesn't end there. Now his wife, Maureen, has her own pilgrimage to make.
Maureen Fry has settled into the quiet life she now shares with her husband Harold after his iconic walk across England. Now, ten years later, an unexpected message from the North disturbs her equilibrium again, and this time it is Maureen's turn to make her own journey.
But Maureen is not like Harold. She struggles to bond with strangers, and the landscape she crosses has changed radically. She has little sense of what she'll find at the end of the road. All she knows is that she must get there.
MY THOUGHTS: I loved this beautifully written novella. Rachel Joyce is back to writing what she does best.
I enjoyed this every bit as much as The Love Songs of Queenie Hennessy, and rather more than The Pilgrimage of Harold Fry. BTW, you will need to read the preceding two books or this will make very little sense to you.
Maureen isn't the easiest person to like. There is no way she could be described as a 'people person'. She is rigid in both her beliefs and actions. What other people think matters very much. And yet, like her I did. I was mortified for her over her little 'accident'. I cringed along with her at Kate's living conditions. I wanted to grab her and make her sit down and properly take in Queenie's garden. But of course, I couldn't.
When Maureen sets out on her journey, she doesn't realise that she's going to find her true self, but ultimately that is what she does.
A wonderful read that had me in tears at times but left me smiling.
My favourite quote: 'It wasn't that he was losing his mind, rather that he was deliberately taking things out of it that he no longer needed.'
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
#MaureenFrysOnHerWay #NetGalley
I: @rachelcjoyce @randomhouse @transworldbooks @doubledayukbooks
T: @randomhouse @transworldbooks @doubledaybooks
#contemporaryfiction #friendship #sliceoflife
THE AUTHOR: Rachel Joyce has written over 20 original afternoon plays for BBC Radio 4, and major adaptations for both the Classic Series, Woman's Hour and also a TV drama adaptation for BBC 2. In 2007 she won the Tinniswood Award for best radio play. She moved to writing after a twenty-year career in theatre and television, performing leading roles for the RSC, the Royal National Theatre, The Royal Court, and Cheek by Jowl, winning a Time Out Best Actress award and the Sony Silver. She lives with her family in Gloucestershire.
DISCLOSURE: Thank you to Random House UK, Transworld Publishers, Doubleday for providing a digital ARC of Maureen Fry and the Angel of the North by Rachel Joyce for review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own personal opinions.
For an explanation of my rating system please refer to my Goodreads.com profile page or the about page on sandysbookaday.wordpress.com
This review and others are also published on Twitter, Amazon, Instagram and my webpage
https://sandysbookaday.wordpress.com/...
https://sandysbookaday.wordpress.com/...
ABOUT 'MAUREEN FRY AND THE ANGEL OF THE NORTH': Ten years ago, Harold Fry set off on his epic journey on foot to save a friend. But the story doesn't end there. Now his wife, Maureen, has her own pilgrimage to make.
Maureen Fry has settled into the quiet life she now shares with her husband Harold after his iconic walk across England. Now, ten years later, an unexpected message from the North disturbs her equilibrium again, and this time it is Maureen's turn to make her own journey.
But Maureen is not like Harold. She struggles to bond with strangers, and the landscape she crosses has changed radically. She has little sense of what she'll find at the end of the road. All she knows is that she must get there.
MY THOUGHTS: I loved this beautifully written novella. Rachel Joyce is back to writing what she does best.
I enjoyed this every bit as much as The Love Songs of Queenie Hennessy, and rather more than The Pilgrimage of Harold Fry. BTW, you will need to read the preceding two books or this will make very little sense to you.
Maureen isn't the easiest person to like. There is no way she could be described as a 'people person'. She is rigid in both her beliefs and actions. What other people think matters very much. And yet, like her I did. I was mortified for her over her little 'accident'. I cringed along with her at Kate's living conditions. I wanted to grab her and make her sit down and properly take in Queenie's garden. But of course, I couldn't.
When Maureen sets out on her journey, she doesn't realise that she's going to find her true self, but ultimately that is what she does.
A wonderful read that had me in tears at times but left me smiling.
My favourite quote: 'It wasn't that he was losing his mind, rather that he was deliberately taking things out of it that he no longer needed.'
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
#MaureenFrysOnHerWay #NetGalley
I: @rachelcjoyce @randomhouse @transworldbooks @doubledayukbooks
T: @randomhouse @transworldbooks @doubledaybooks
#contemporaryfiction #friendship #sliceoflife
THE AUTHOR: Rachel Joyce has written over 20 original afternoon plays for BBC Radio 4, and major adaptations for both the Classic Series, Woman's Hour and also a TV drama adaptation for BBC 2. In 2007 she won the Tinniswood Award for best radio play. She moved to writing after a twenty-year career in theatre and television, performing leading roles for the RSC, the Royal National Theatre, The Royal Court, and Cheek by Jowl, winning a Time Out Best Actress award and the Sony Silver. She lives with her family in Gloucestershire.
DISCLOSURE: Thank you to Random House UK, Transworld Publishers, Doubleday for providing a digital ARC of Maureen Fry and the Angel of the North by Rachel Joyce for review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own personal opinions.
For an explanation of my rating system please refer to my Goodreads.com profile page or the about page on sandysbookaday.wordpress.com
This review and others are also published on Twitter, Amazon, Instagram and my webpage
https://sandysbookaday.wordpress.com/...
https://sandysbookaday.wordpress.com/...
October 7, 2024
"Maureen" by Rachel Joyce is Book #3 in this Authors' "Harold Fry" Series!
The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry is where this series begins telling Harold's story of walking 600+ miles to hand deliver a letter to Queenie Hennessy who's gravely ill and spending her final days in hospice. Harold believes if he delivers his letter, Queenie will live long enough to receive it.
The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy tells Queenie's story of her days in hospice. Queenie knows Harold is on his way to visit her and realizes she must confront the past she left behind twenty years ago. She writes a poignant letter to Harold while he walks to deliver his letter to her.
Both books have concurrent timelines, so while Harold is walking, Queenie is writing.
Now it's ten years later, and time to hear from Maureen, Harold's wife. She's about to take a journey of her own and, in the mix, gives her perspective of all that's happened before and after Harold's journey to visit Queenie.
What I love about this book is how vague the synopsis is, allowing readers to go in blind. It's an intensely personal journey for Maureen and you feel her pain the entire way. You realize how lost she is from herself, how out of control she feels in her life, and how different she feels from Harold and everyone else. You will get to know Maureen intimately, warts and all.
The main difference in this book from the other two is the length. This is a novella and although I thoroughly enjoyed this read, it did feel noticeably short. I wanted as much of Maureen as the author wrote of both Harold and Queenie. With that said, what was written about Maureen was both revealing and satisfying.
What I find most amazing about this author and her series is how well she knows each of her main characters, Harold, Queenie and now Maureen, and how openly and honestly she presents them to her readers.
This is definitely a series that needs to be read in sequential order and each book has its own uniqueness, yet the total package is a complete journey. I can't wait to see what this author comes up with next and look forward to meeting more of her characters!
I highly recommend this book and series! 4.5 stars!
Thank you to NetGalley, Random House, and Rachel Joyce for an ARC of this book. It has been an honor to give my honest and voluntary review.
The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry is where this series begins telling Harold's story of walking 600+ miles to hand deliver a letter to Queenie Hennessy who's gravely ill and spending her final days in hospice. Harold believes if he delivers his letter, Queenie will live long enough to receive it.
The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy tells Queenie's story of her days in hospice. Queenie knows Harold is on his way to visit her and realizes she must confront the past she left behind twenty years ago. She writes a poignant letter to Harold while he walks to deliver his letter to her.
Both books have concurrent timelines, so while Harold is walking, Queenie is writing.
Now it's ten years later, and time to hear from Maureen, Harold's wife. She's about to take a journey of her own and, in the mix, gives her perspective of all that's happened before and after Harold's journey to visit Queenie.
What I love about this book is how vague the synopsis is, allowing readers to go in blind. It's an intensely personal journey for Maureen and you feel her pain the entire way. You realize how lost she is from herself, how out of control she feels in her life, and how different she feels from Harold and everyone else. You will get to know Maureen intimately, warts and all.
The main difference in this book from the other two is the length. This is a novella and although I thoroughly enjoyed this read, it did feel noticeably short. I wanted as much of Maureen as the author wrote of both Harold and Queenie. With that said, what was written about Maureen was both revealing and satisfying.
What I find most amazing about this author and her series is how well she knows each of her main characters, Harold, Queenie and now Maureen, and how openly and honestly she presents them to her readers.
This is definitely a series that needs to be read in sequential order and each book has its own uniqueness, yet the total package is a complete journey. I can't wait to see what this author comes up with next and look forward to meeting more of her characters!
I highly recommend this book and series! 4.5 stars!
Thank you to NetGalley, Random House, and Rachel Joyce for an ARC of this book. It has been an honor to give my honest and voluntary review.
July 29, 2024
Thank you Rachel, for being such a wonderful author. I don’t know if you are naturally empathic, but you write as if you know exactly how somebody thinks and feels. The emotions are so rich in Maureen, and I’m sure the readers also experience them. It’s a short story, but a lot of self-discovery is packed into the trip Maureen takes. The ending is really touching, complex and memorable.
October 28, 2022
’We have a closet door that is always sticking. It’s the kind of closet where we shove in things that we don’t want to deal with, but can’t yet throw out. And part of the deal with the stickiness of this door is that you know its difficulty will make it even easier to keep closed and ignore what’s behind. To me, writing is about opening those kinds of sticky doors. The kind of doors your characters will do everything they can to convince you are not there.’ - Rachel Joyce
This story continues the story of Harold Fry, with the main character in this his wife Maureen. It is through Maureen we learn more of her story, but also more of their story. Their loss, the grief that follows, as well as a realization that, perhaps it is time that she faces her grief, and so Maureen is the one who takes a journey - although not on foot as Harold had done.
It’s been ten years of her trying to avoid facing this grief for what it is, all those years she’s been trying to hold it all inside, trying to reconcile how this came to be, and hoping that with changes to their surroundings she would find some peace. She changes everything in the bedroom, thinking that maybe new paint and storing the things that used to be in that room would take the pain away, only to realize that it is empty of the things that tied her to him. Her son, their son.
At its heart, this is a story of grief and loss, the impact it has on us and those who are in our lives. The way it changes our view of life, especially the life we’ve been living, and the need to say goodbye to those we’ve lost in order to honor them, as well as ourselves. This is the last story in this trilogy, and the time set is during the pandemic, although it isn’t the focus of the story.
If you’ve read ’The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry you will appreciate the growth in their relationship, and their own personal growth, as well. Maureen is not typically open to conversations with strangers, she barely is comfortable with those she knows and there aren’t that many of those. She has had heartbreaking loss and it has taken its toll on her, and those around her. She has been unable, afraid to truly face that loss. And so she decides it is her turn to take a journey, a journey that ends up being fraught with frustrations, fear and pain, but also a sense of gratitude for the opportunity to say goodbye.
Set during the pandemic, although that is not the prevalent theme, it is a time when solitude is perhaps even more the norm, it seems the perfect time for Maureen to face the loss that has framed these last years. And so she goes on a journey to say goodbye.
This was a poignant, lovely read, filled with compassion, a story of both growth and healing with a perfect ending.
I’ve read all of Rachel Joyce’s books, or at least the ones I can find, and loved them all, but this is one that will stay in my heart for a long time.
Pub Date: 07 Feb 2023
Many thanks for the ARC provided by Random House Publishing Group - Random House, Dial Press Trade Paperback
August 17, 2022
4-5 rounded up
Remember Harolds pilgrimage of ten years ago? Then we had the Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy and now it’s Maureen Fry’s turn or Maw as Harold affectionately calls her. Maureen is very unsettled and restless particularly after they receive a message from the north. With Harold’s encouragement, she decides to undertake a journey though unlike Harold, she’ll drive. He even polishes her driving shoes for her! However, it doesn’t get off to an auspicious start when she gets lost and the journey to the north is certainly packed with incident.
Rachel Joyce has done it again! She rounds of the trilogy perfectly in this novella. It’s beautifully written, it brings not only the journey alive but you feel as if you are travelling with Maureen. She is a somewhat spiky cactus, she finds friendship hard, she takes offence all too easily and has the ability to say completely the wrong thing. At the start you definitely hold her at arms length but the powerful writing allows us to glimpse beneath her armour and so you grow to understand her and her pain and I end up liking her much better at the end. She meets some lovely characters, a big shout out for Kate who features in Harold Fry who is a warm, wonderful, caring individual. Maureen learns much from her.
This is touching, emotional, moving and sad as Maureen assesses herself, learns a lot and find the peace she craves in one really beautiful scene. She finds kindness and understanding in places she least expects it and the whole experience is heartwarming.
Highly recommended especially to those who love Harold Fry and Queenie.
With thanks to NetGalley and especially to Random House U.K./Transworld for the much appreciated arc in return for an honest review.
Remember Harolds pilgrimage of ten years ago? Then we had the Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy and now it’s Maureen Fry’s turn or Maw as Harold affectionately calls her. Maureen is very unsettled and restless particularly after they receive a message from the north. With Harold’s encouragement, she decides to undertake a journey though unlike Harold, she’ll drive. He even polishes her driving shoes for her! However, it doesn’t get off to an auspicious start when she gets lost and the journey to the north is certainly packed with incident.
Rachel Joyce has done it again! She rounds of the trilogy perfectly in this novella. It’s beautifully written, it brings not only the journey alive but you feel as if you are travelling with Maureen. She is a somewhat spiky cactus, she finds friendship hard, she takes offence all too easily and has the ability to say completely the wrong thing. At the start you definitely hold her at arms length but the powerful writing allows us to glimpse beneath her armour and so you grow to understand her and her pain and I end up liking her much better at the end. She meets some lovely characters, a big shout out for Kate who features in Harold Fry who is a warm, wonderful, caring individual. Maureen learns much from her.
This is touching, emotional, moving and sad as Maureen assesses herself, learns a lot and find the peace she craves in one really beautiful scene. She finds kindness and understanding in places she least expects it and the whole experience is heartwarming.
Highly recommended especially to those who love Harold Fry and Queenie.
With thanks to NetGalley and especially to Random House U.K./Transworld for the much appreciated arc in return for an honest review.
December 12, 2022
A few years have passed since Harold’s trek to see Queenie at the hospice, and since we heard Queenie’s story before she passed.
Now it’s Maureen’s turn to take a little trip but she does so by car.
She’s off to see Queenie’s garden where there are tributes left for people… one of them in her garden is left there for Harold and Maureen’s son David who died by suicide.
Maureen needs to do this, she needs to find some peace.
This was a very moving story and I so empathized with Maureen.. maybe/probably mostly with Maureen in this third story.
These books are just wonderful.. if you haven’t done so.. read them!
Thank you to Netgalley and Random House Publishing Group for the ARC!
Now it’s Maureen’s turn to take a little trip but she does so by car.
She’s off to see Queenie’s garden where there are tributes left for people… one of them in her garden is left there for Harold and Maureen’s son David who died by suicide.
Maureen needs to do this, she needs to find some peace.
This was a very moving story and I so empathized with Maureen.. maybe/probably mostly with Maureen in this third story.
These books are just wonderful.. if you haven’t done so.. read them!
Thank you to Netgalley and Random House Publishing Group for the ARC!
October 17, 2022
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. I am always in too much of a hurry to begin reading.
Anyway I did not enjoy this third book as much as the previous two. Maureen has never been a very likeable character and most of the time I wonder how Harold puts up with her. On the other hand I was sometimes in sympathy with her when I was maybe not supposed to be. Kate's awful motor home would have put me off too.
I was reading mostly for the sake of it until the moment Maureen had her accident in the garden, and then the whole direction of the story changed. Maybe her redemption came a little too fast and a little too easily but it was tear jerking stuff. For me this was going to be a three star book, but I am giving it an extra star just for the last couple of chapters.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this book.
Anyway I did not enjoy this third book as much as the previous two. Maureen has never been a very likeable character and most of the time I wonder how Harold puts up with her. On the other hand I was sometimes in sympathy with her when I was maybe not supposed to be. Kate's awful motor home would have put me off too.
I was reading mostly for the sake of it until the moment Maureen had her accident in the garden, and then the whole direction of the story changed. Maybe her redemption came a little too fast and a little too easily but it was tear jerking stuff. For me this was going to be a three star book, but I am giving it an extra star just for the last couple of chapters.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this book.
January 11, 2023
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I loved both The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry and The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy from this series but the final one left me feeling very disappointed. I couldn’t connect to the main character, Maureen, at all and frankly, I was quite bored sometimes while reading this one. It was very repetitive in the fact that Maureen whines and complains and gets angry over and over again. Rachel Joyce usually writes about the ordinary in an extraordinary way but this one just fell flat.
I understand what the author was trying to do giving Maureen a voice to her grief at the loss of her son. While Harold walked during his journey Maureen chooses to drive and we are subjected to a lot of internal dialogue and not much interaction with others and what we do get is complaints and whining. I think that’s the biggest difference between these stories.
This was a short book and I was able to read it in a single sitting and it does not work as a stand-alone. If you’ve read the other two books you might be curious to read this one just to get some closure of some sort but other than that I cannot recommend it.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the Advance Readers Copy.
I loved both The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry and The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy from this series but the final one left me feeling very disappointed. I couldn’t connect to the main character, Maureen, at all and frankly, I was quite bored sometimes while reading this one. It was very repetitive in the fact that Maureen whines and complains and gets angry over and over again. Rachel Joyce usually writes about the ordinary in an extraordinary way but this one just fell flat.
I understand what the author was trying to do giving Maureen a voice to her grief at the loss of her son. While Harold walked during his journey Maureen chooses to drive and we are subjected to a lot of internal dialogue and not much interaction with others and what we do get is complaints and whining. I think that’s the biggest difference between these stories.
This was a short book and I was able to read it in a single sitting and it does not work as a stand-alone. If you’ve read the other two books you might be curious to read this one just to get some closure of some sort but other than that I cannot recommend it.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the Advance Readers Copy.
October 8, 2022
4★
“At least he was happy, at least he was safe. And his health, too. At least he had that. It wasn’t that he was losing his mind, rather that he was deliberately taking things out of it that he no longer needed.”
Maureen is speaking of her aging husband Harold, of The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry fame. He’s happy to sit and play draughts with Rex next door or sit and watch for birds. Maureen is considerably more anxious. She has left enough food in the freezer for both men so they won’t fall back on tea and toast for meals, but she doesn’t trust that they will remember or cope.
Still, she’s on her way, driving north to visit a garden. This is the third book in what became a series, and I recommend reading the previous two first. Although the author does a good job of filling in some background, this won’t have nearly the impact without having watched the earlier stories unfold.
She gets lost early because of roadworks and asks a man for help. He gets out his phone and asks about her satnav – she doesn’t use it. She’s learned to do online shopping because of the pandemic, but she’s not comfortable with it.
“The fact was she’d had the satnav disconnected. She couldn’t bear that nice voice urging directions at her and telling her last minute that she’d missed the turn. Maureen was of the generation who had grown up with the phone on the hall table, and a map in the glove compartment. Even online shopping was a stretch. Twenty lemons instead of two, and all that kind of thing.
He said, ‘Will you remember if I tell you?’
‘I don’t think I will.’
‘I don’t know what to do, then. What do you want me to do?’
‘I would like you to read out the directions from your phone and I will write them down on a piece of paper. I’ll take my route from that.’ ”
It’s going to be a long trip. It’s ten years since Harold make his long trek to visit Queenie Hennessy, and since then, Maureen has been haunted by something she knew about Queenie that she has never disclosed to Harold.
When Harold gets a note from one of the new friends he made along his way which says she read that Queenie had made a garden with “a monument to your son”, Maureen knows she wants to see it. Harold tells her she must go. She must, to see what this garden has to do with David.
She and Harold have been happy together the last ten years, but she still has an itch to try to understand their past. As with Harold’s and Queenie’s stories, Maureen thinks about her past and how she came to be who she is. Her mother was beautiful and proud and resentful.
“She came from good stock, was what she liked to say, but her husband had poor health and little money and they had been forced to retreat to the countryside. Her mother hated everything about the countryside. The smells, the dirt, the isolation. It mortified her that they couldn’t afford extra help.”
Maureen seemed short-tempered and resentful in the earlier books but has mellowed considerably. She hopes she’s better than her mother.
“You think you will be different but the blueprint is still there: Maureen looked into the mirror and saw the ghost of her mother, staring back.”
But she’s trying to learn to be kind, make a nice comment even when unnecessary. She has seen herself (as well as her mother) and vows to do better.
“All this relentless thinking and remembering, and she had still over two hundred miles to go. Stuck in the car, she was exposed only to herself, with no Harold to dilute her.”
But her snob trigger is still pretty sensitive. She stops to see one of Harold’s trek friends, hoping for a relaxing welcome.
“It had never occurred to Maureen that a person who sent postcards to Harold could live like this. It wasn’t even clean. It especially wasn’t clean. The truck was designed like an open-plan studio – an idea that had never appealed to Maureen
. . .
The place was a hovel. She could try as hard as she liked to be nice but there was no nice way of saying it.
. . .
An incongruously large wing- back chair was covered with an old eiderdown that Maureen would honestly fear to disturb. ‘What a lovely place,’ said Maureen again. ‘Isn’t this charming?’
She took off her coat, but there was nowhere to hang it so she put it back on again.”
Bless her heart, she's trying!
Hers is a very different quest from Harold’s, and her private nature makes it hard for her to ask for or accept help. Having a car means she can retreat, be on her way, take her leave without needing anyone.
I wasn’t sure I wanted to read about Maureen, but I think the author did a good job of rounding out the three stories while still leaving some things to our imagination.
Thanks to NetGalley and Random House UK, Transworld, Doubleday for the copy for review.
My review of The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry
My review of The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessey
“At least he was happy, at least he was safe. And his health, too. At least he had that. It wasn’t that he was losing his mind, rather that he was deliberately taking things out of it that he no longer needed.”
Maureen is speaking of her aging husband Harold, of The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry fame. He’s happy to sit and play draughts with Rex next door or sit and watch for birds. Maureen is considerably more anxious. She has left enough food in the freezer for both men so they won’t fall back on tea and toast for meals, but she doesn’t trust that they will remember or cope.
Still, she’s on her way, driving north to visit a garden. This is the third book in what became a series, and I recommend reading the previous two first. Although the author does a good job of filling in some background, this won’t have nearly the impact without having watched the earlier stories unfold.
She gets lost early because of roadworks and asks a man for help. He gets out his phone and asks about her satnav – she doesn’t use it. She’s learned to do online shopping because of the pandemic, but she’s not comfortable with it.
“The fact was she’d had the satnav disconnected. She couldn’t bear that nice voice urging directions at her and telling her last minute that she’d missed the turn. Maureen was of the generation who had grown up with the phone on the hall table, and a map in the glove compartment. Even online shopping was a stretch. Twenty lemons instead of two, and all that kind of thing.
He said, ‘Will you remember if I tell you?’
‘I don’t think I will.’
‘I don’t know what to do, then. What do you want me to do?’
‘I would like you to read out the directions from your phone and I will write them down on a piece of paper. I’ll take my route from that.’ ”
It’s going to be a long trip. It’s ten years since Harold make his long trek to visit Queenie Hennessy, and since then, Maureen has been haunted by something she knew about Queenie that she has never disclosed to Harold.
When Harold gets a note from one of the new friends he made along his way which says she read that Queenie had made a garden with “a monument to your son”, Maureen knows she wants to see it. Harold tells her she must go. She must, to see what this garden has to do with David.
She and Harold have been happy together the last ten years, but she still has an itch to try to understand their past. As with Harold’s and Queenie’s stories, Maureen thinks about her past and how she came to be who she is. Her mother was beautiful and proud and resentful.
“She came from good stock, was what she liked to say, but her husband had poor health and little money and they had been forced to retreat to the countryside. Her mother hated everything about the countryside. The smells, the dirt, the isolation. It mortified her that they couldn’t afford extra help.”
Maureen seemed short-tempered and resentful in the earlier books but has mellowed considerably. She hopes she’s better than her mother.
“You think you will be different but the blueprint is still there: Maureen looked into the mirror and saw the ghost of her mother, staring back.”
But she’s trying to learn to be kind, make a nice comment even when unnecessary. She has seen herself (as well as her mother) and vows to do better.
“All this relentless thinking and remembering, and she had still over two hundred miles to go. Stuck in the car, she was exposed only to herself, with no Harold to dilute her.”
But her snob trigger is still pretty sensitive. She stops to see one of Harold’s trek friends, hoping for a relaxing welcome.
“It had never occurred to Maureen that a person who sent postcards to Harold could live like this. It wasn’t even clean. It especially wasn’t clean. The truck was designed like an open-plan studio – an idea that had never appealed to Maureen
. . .
The place was a hovel. She could try as hard as she liked to be nice but there was no nice way of saying it.
. . .
An incongruously large wing- back chair was covered with an old eiderdown that Maureen would honestly fear to disturb. ‘What a lovely place,’ said Maureen again. ‘Isn’t this charming?’
She took off her coat, but there was nowhere to hang it so she put it back on again.”
Bless her heart, she's trying!
Hers is a very different quest from Harold’s, and her private nature makes it hard for her to ask for or accept help. Having a car means she can retreat, be on her way, take her leave without needing anyone.
I wasn’t sure I wanted to read about Maureen, but I think the author did a good job of rounding out the three stories while still leaving some things to our imagination.
Thanks to NetGalley and Random House UK, Transworld, Doubleday for the copy for review.
My review of The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry
My review of The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessey
February 7, 2023
3.5 end of the trilogy stars - now available
This time we have the story from Maureen’s point of view years after Harold and Queenie’s stories. Maureen is a difficult character to like but through this book I came to understand her more. Maureen has a journey of her own to undertake, both physically and mentally, to process her grief.
It was difficult to read in places, but I liked the growth Maureen experienced in the novel. Unlike her husband Harold who made friends along the way in his journey, Maureen finds it difficult to be kind to people and bristles at interactions with others.
It does feel like this series is complete now and I am glad to have read all three of these books. I think it is best to read all three in the series. I did like the first two quite a bit and just didn’t connect as much with Maureen. I do like this author, and I look forward to her next books!
I enjoyed reading all three of these books back-to-back with Marilyn.
My thanks to Random House/Dial Press for the opportunity to read and honestly this one.
This time we have the story from Maureen’s point of view years after Harold and Queenie’s stories. Maureen is a difficult character to like but through this book I came to understand her more. Maureen has a journey of her own to undertake, both physically and mentally, to process her grief.
It was difficult to read in places, but I liked the growth Maureen experienced in the novel. Unlike her husband Harold who made friends along the way in his journey, Maureen finds it difficult to be kind to people and bristles at interactions with others.
It does feel like this series is complete now and I am glad to have read all three of these books. I think it is best to read all three in the series. I did like the first two quite a bit and just didn’t connect as much with Maureen. I do like this author, and I look forward to her next books!
I enjoyed reading all three of these books back-to-back with Marilyn.
My thanks to Random House/Dial Press for the opportunity to read and honestly this one.
April 1, 2023
3.5 stars
A complex woman trying to make a reasoning out of the death of her son thirty years ago and just discovering herself is the theme of this tale.
Maureen is a woman, tough on the outside, but tender and fragile within. Through her husband's, Harold's journey, Maureen feels that she must go on her own journey ten years after Harold's famous walk. She leaves taking the car and along the way we are listening to her thoughts, the difficulties of her life, her failure she feels as a student, and mother.
Maureen is a lesson in struggling to find oneself. She is afraid of friendship, and is fearful of what lies ahead. Fortunately, through Harold's trip, she has reconnected with her husband, but has not yet reconnected with herself.
The book is written beautifully with the reading audience coming to know and welcome Maureen into our hearts. It is a worthy ending to the journey of the Fry's
Thanks you to Rachel Joyce, Dial Press, and NetGalley for this poignant story which has already published.
The longest journey begins with the first step, but often that step is the hardest of them all.
A complex woman trying to make a reasoning out of the death of her son thirty years ago and just discovering herself is the theme of this tale.
Maureen is a woman, tough on the outside, but tender and fragile within. Through her husband's, Harold's journey, Maureen feels that she must go on her own journey ten years after Harold's famous walk. She leaves taking the car and along the way we are listening to her thoughts, the difficulties of her life, her failure she feels as a student, and mother.
Maureen is a lesson in struggling to find oneself. She is afraid of friendship, and is fearful of what lies ahead. Fortunately, through Harold's trip, she has reconnected with her husband, but has not yet reconnected with herself.
The book is written beautifully with the reading audience coming to know and welcome Maureen into our hearts. It is a worthy ending to the journey of the Fry's
Thanks you to Rachel Joyce, Dial Press, and NetGalley for this poignant story which has already published.
The longest journey begins with the first step, but often that step is the hardest of them all.
March 3, 2023
4.5 stars rounded down- I loved it more than the first two, even if it was shorter. Very moving and so relatable. I really appreciate the author telling the third voice from this odd love triangle of sorts. Think you'd have to read the first two to appreciate it - not really a standalone. Great way to close out this story with a trilogy!
July 28, 2022
Well, this is a special little book indeed and a treat to read Maureen Fry’s own adventure. This is the beautifully written and endlessly touching third book of The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry trilogy. Rachel Joyce has the rare talent of making you laugh and cry, often on the same page. Read this is you’re looking for something to touch your heart.
December 22, 2024
Finally!! The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry was light and bittersweet. The Love Song of Queenie Hennessy was so deeply sad that it couldn’t even be called traffic. Finally, Maureen’s journey has properly reset the earth on its axis, and Queenie and David can both rest in peace, while she and Harold can live in peace.
December 26, 2022
3 Stars
This is the 3rd installment to the companion reads "The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry" and "The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy", and centers upon the wife of Harold Fry. Maureen Fry was a complex and rather carmudgeonly figure that begged to be fleshed out among this trilogy of characters. She is also the most unlikeable, and my opinion did not change much by the end of the book.
The book launches where Maureen is embarking on a pilgrimage of her own, with the blessing and urging of her husband Harold. I don't want to elaborate on the details as the reader needs to discover this along with Maureen on their own. Along the way she is as forthright and unpleasant as ever, but learns some lessons along the way.
I don't think this book could flourish as a standalone without its two full-bodied predecessors propping it up. As it is this final epitaph held middling interest with me- only providing a burst or two of emotional nirvana towards the end. At just under 200 pages- and some of that tag-ons such as acknowledgements, an interview with Rachel Joyce, an imaginary email correspondence between the author and Maureen Fry, and questions and topics for discussion- it seems to function merely as a diminutive wrap up to this series.
Thank you to Random House Publishing for providing an advance reader copy via NetGalley.
This is the 3rd installment to the companion reads "The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry" and "The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy", and centers upon the wife of Harold Fry. Maureen Fry was a complex and rather carmudgeonly figure that begged to be fleshed out among this trilogy of characters. She is also the most unlikeable, and my opinion did not change much by the end of the book.
The book launches where Maureen is embarking on a pilgrimage of her own, with the blessing and urging of her husband Harold. I don't want to elaborate on the details as the reader needs to discover this along with Maureen on their own. Along the way she is as forthright and unpleasant as ever, but learns some lessons along the way.
I don't think this book could flourish as a standalone without its two full-bodied predecessors propping it up. As it is this final epitaph held middling interest with me- only providing a burst or two of emotional nirvana towards the end. At just under 200 pages- and some of that tag-ons such as acknowledgements, an interview with Rachel Joyce, an imaginary email correspondence between the author and Maureen Fry, and questions and topics for discussion- it seems to function merely as a diminutive wrap up to this series.
Thank you to Random House Publishing for providing an advance reader copy via NetGalley.
February 2, 2023
The last of the Harold Fry trilogy, this time featuring Maureen, Harold's wife. She hears about Queenie's garden in Embleton Bay and that her son David is in it, so she makes a pilgrimage of her own to see it, to find him in it.
Along the way she learns some necessary lessons. All her life she's felt she was 'being measured against something she didn't understand and would never get right.' Maybe that's why she has a tendency to judge other people, before they have the chance to judge her.
Rachel Joyce is so wise! She sees the 'essential loneliness of people' and digs into the causes of it. No matter what, they deserve respect. I am the richer for having read these books.
I received an arc from the author and publisher via NetGalley. Many thanks for the opportunity. Receiving this book nudged me to read The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy before starting this one. I think it would be wonderful to read all three books back to back.
Disclaimer: My review is voluntary and the opinions expressed are my own.
Along the way she learns some necessary lessons. All her life she's felt she was 'being measured against something she didn't understand and would never get right.' Maybe that's why she has a tendency to judge other people, before they have the chance to judge her.
Rachel Joyce is so wise! She sees the 'essential loneliness of people' and digs into the causes of it. No matter what, they deserve respect. I am the richer for having read these books.
I received an arc from the author and publisher via NetGalley. Many thanks for the opportunity. Receiving this book nudged me to read The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy before starting this one. I think it would be wonderful to read all three books back to back.
Disclaimer: My review is voluntary and the opinions expressed are my own.
September 21, 2022
Maureen Fry and the angel of the north by Rachel Joyce is the third book in the Harold Fry series and I can’t believe it is ten years from the first book.
Maureen has settled into life after Harold’s epic journey. And finds it hard to make friends easily. Ten years later she gets a message that in Queenies Garden they have put a sculpture of her late son David. She misses him terribly and decides to make the journey up north to see this garden for herself, even though this is a challenge for her. But she must do this. But unlike Harold she decides to drive there. But she seems to get lost on the way as everything has changed over the years and she asks someone for directions. Which is not an easy task for her. But she eventually gets there, with Harold on the phone cheering her on.
This is another beautifully written, life affirming story by Rachel Joyce of Maureen, like Harold going on a journey that changes her direction in life. Along the way Maureen reminisces parts of her childhood and the story tells us of how she became the person she is and by going on this journey changes her aspects of her life. I really enjoyed this moving tale. Fans of the previous books with love this too. 5 stars from me.
Maureen has settled into life after Harold’s epic journey. And finds it hard to make friends easily. Ten years later she gets a message that in Queenies Garden they have put a sculpture of her late son David. She misses him terribly and decides to make the journey up north to see this garden for herself, even though this is a challenge for her. But she must do this. But unlike Harold she decides to drive there. But she seems to get lost on the way as everything has changed over the years and she asks someone for directions. Which is not an easy task for her. But she eventually gets there, with Harold on the phone cheering her on.
This is another beautifully written, life affirming story by Rachel Joyce of Maureen, like Harold going on a journey that changes her direction in life. Along the way Maureen reminisces parts of her childhood and the story tells us of how she became the person she is and by going on this journey changes her aspects of her life. I really enjoyed this moving tale. Fans of the previous books with love this too. 5 stars from me.
March 27, 2023
Poor Maureen. She just never figured out exactly how to deal with the world. Unlike her husband Harold, she can't open herself up to friendship because she's too suspicious. Unlike his friend Queenie, she can't find joy in the midst of tragedy. The suicide of her son 30 years ago has left her angry and withdrawn.
Harold's walk and Queenie's death was 10 years ago, and Maureen decides to make her own pilgrimage to Queenie's seaside garden, hoping to find the monument to her son David that she's heard about. She goes alone, driving, not walking.
It's hard to find anything when you can't open yourself up to possibilities. Poor Maureen, circumstances force her to turn to others for help, she finds a measure of peace, but can't seem to escape herself. That's always the kicker, isn't it?
This was a satisfying way to bring closure to Harold's story. Novella length, no earth-shattering revelations, just a quiet story of a woman who tried.
-
Harold's walk and Queenie's death was 10 years ago, and Maureen decides to make her own pilgrimage to Queenie's seaside garden, hoping to find the monument to her son David that she's heard about. She goes alone, driving, not walking.
It's hard to find anything when you can't open yourself up to possibilities. Poor Maureen, circumstances force her to turn to others for help, she finds a measure of peace, but can't seem to escape herself. That's always the kicker, isn't it?
This was a satisfying way to bring closure to Harold's story. Novella length, no earth-shattering revelations, just a quiet story of a woman who tried.
-
March 14, 2023
3.5 stars It was a nice ending to the Harold trilogy, but I came away still not liking Maureen much. I understood her better but still didn't care for her.
March 20, 2023
Maureen Fry is an emotionally damaged woman who is grieving for David, her son who died many years earlier. The third book of the Harold Fry trilogy revolves around Maureen, Harold's wife. The trilogy started when Harold went on a pilgrimage to visit his friend, Queenie, in a hospice. 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. One part of the garden was dedicated to David Fry because Queenie regretted that she was unable to help the young man who committed suicide.
Maureen has never forgiven herself that she did not see how deeply troubled David was before he took his own life. She makes a journey by car to northern England to visit Queenie's garden which is now maintained by volunteers, and has no idea of how she will react emotionally. Maureen is a difficult woman who always found it challenging to relate to other people, but her journey is one of forgiveness and hope for the future.
While I did not enjoy this book as much as "The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry" or "The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy," I'm glad I read it. I cared about the characters portrayed, and this short book gave a sense of closure.
Maureen has never forgiven herself that she did not see how deeply troubled David was before he took his own life. She makes a journey by car to northern England to visit Queenie's garden which is now maintained by volunteers, and has no idea of how she will react emotionally. Maureen is a difficult woman who always found it challenging to relate to other people, but her journey is one of forgiveness and hope for the future.
While I did not enjoy this book as much as "The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry" or "The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy," I'm glad I read it. I cared about the characters portrayed, and this short book gave a sense of closure.
August 30, 2022
Maureen Fry And The Angel Of The North is the third book in the Harold Fry trilogy by British actress, radio playwright and author, Rachel Joyce. Some ten years after her husband, Harold returns from his pilgrimage to save Queenie Hennessy, he still hears from some of those he encountered on the journey.
Five months earlier, Kate sent a postcard about Queenie’s Sea Garden: there’s a monument to David, the son they lost thirty years earlier. Maureen tries to convince herself that she doesn’t need to see it, but Harold can see that she does. Harold and their neighbour Rex surely won’t be able to fend for themselves, she reasons but, leaving a freezer full of prepared meals and instructions on sticky notes papering the kitchen, she sets off on a four-hundred-and-fifty-mile journey to Embleton Bay.
But Maureen isn’t Harold. Maureen can’t connect with strangers, relate to people she doesn’t know. She can’t even get on with the women in her book club. Her encounters with the waitress at the motorway services café, the security guard who gives her route directions, the young man who helps when she has a minor traffic accident, the volunteer at Queenie’s Sea Garden, these are not fulfilling, uplifting, heartening experiences. Quite the opposite, in some cases.
Not far from Embleton, Kate offers her a bed for the night, but Maureen is uncomfortable with Kate’s hospitality, sees only the dirt and clutter, and can’t wait to leave: “Inside the truck, there was not one single place for the eye to rest that hadn’t already been claimed by something else. It was like looking directly into a migraine. Tiny Buddha ornaments, chakra stones, hanging quartzes, crystals, candles, exhortations to find your inner goddess and your angels, shelves draped with purple curtains. Everything carried a thin layer of filth and was either broken or about to be. And the smell. Dear God. She’d thought she’d smelt bad. Incense sticks were puffing away in every corner.”
When Maureen sees what Queenie has made, her Garden of Relics, she’s enraged: how dare Queenie put up figures of Harold, of David! Her anger leads to an impulsive act that backfires on her.
Reduced by physical injury, Maureen has to accept the kindness and care Kate unstintingly gives. Captive in her disability, she connects with sweet little Maple, Kate’s granddaughter, and eventually, finally, Maureen comes to terms with her grief over David.
Joyce treats the reader to a wealth of beautiful descriptive prose: “Maureen drove below snatches of sky where sunlight glinted on the road, steel blue, spun gold, as rich as the glances off a crow’s wing” and “Ahead, the skin of the sea heaved and waves rolled out of the dark” and “the kitchen was covered with Post-it notes, like small yellow alarm signals” are examples.
Similarly, she evokes feelings and mood with wonderful skill: “Stuck in the car, she was exposed only to herself, with no Harold to dilute her” and “Once again, she experienced that old feeling of being the wrong shape for the situation in which she found herself. Of being an intruder.”
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. The illustrations by Andrew Davidson at the start of each chapter add charm. Short, beautifully written: a joy to read.
This unbiased review is from an uncorrected proof copy provided by NetGalley and Random House UK Transworld.
Five months earlier, Kate sent a postcard about Queenie’s Sea Garden: there’s a monument to David, the son they lost thirty years earlier. Maureen tries to convince herself that she doesn’t need to see it, but Harold can see that she does. Harold and their neighbour Rex surely won’t be able to fend for themselves, she reasons but, leaving a freezer full of prepared meals and instructions on sticky notes papering the kitchen, she sets off on a four-hundred-and-fifty-mile journey to Embleton Bay.
But Maureen isn’t Harold. Maureen can’t connect with strangers, relate to people she doesn’t know. She can’t even get on with the women in her book club. Her encounters with the waitress at the motorway services café, the security guard who gives her route directions, the young man who helps when she has a minor traffic accident, the volunteer at Queenie’s Sea Garden, these are not fulfilling, uplifting, heartening experiences. Quite the opposite, in some cases.
Not far from Embleton, Kate offers her a bed for the night, but Maureen is uncomfortable with Kate’s hospitality, sees only the dirt and clutter, and can’t wait to leave: “Inside the truck, there was not one single place for the eye to rest that hadn’t already been claimed by something else. It was like looking directly into a migraine. Tiny Buddha ornaments, chakra stones, hanging quartzes, crystals, candles, exhortations to find your inner goddess and your angels, shelves draped with purple curtains. Everything carried a thin layer of filth and was either broken or about to be. And the smell. Dear God. She’d thought she’d smelt bad. Incense sticks were puffing away in every corner.”
When Maureen sees what Queenie has made, her Garden of Relics, she’s enraged: how dare Queenie put up figures of Harold, of David! Her anger leads to an impulsive act that backfires on her.
Reduced by physical injury, Maureen has to accept the kindness and care Kate unstintingly gives. Captive in her disability, she connects with sweet little Maple, Kate’s granddaughter, and eventually, finally, Maureen comes to terms with her grief over David.
Joyce treats the reader to a wealth of beautiful descriptive prose: “Maureen drove below snatches of sky where sunlight glinted on the road, steel blue, spun gold, as rich as the glances off a crow’s wing” and “Ahead, the skin of the sea heaved and waves rolled out of the dark” and “the kitchen was covered with Post-it notes, like small yellow alarm signals” are examples.
Similarly, she evokes feelings and mood with wonderful skill: “Stuck in the car, she was exposed only to herself, with no Harold to dilute her” and “Once again, she experienced that old feeling of being the wrong shape for the situation in which she found herself. Of being an intruder.”
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. The illustrations by Andrew Davidson at the start of each chapter add charm. Short, beautifully written: a joy to read.
This unbiased review is from an uncorrected proof copy provided by NetGalley and Random House UK Transworld.
April 2, 2023
Maureen is the third book of Rachel Joyce’s Harold Fry trilogy. As such, it completes the story begun 10 years ago with The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by allowing his wife, Maureen, to venture into the world herself in search of answers or closure on problems that have been crushing her for years. She will drive, not walk, but she will also make a northward journey, encountering strangers and having no clue how to deal with them. She is not Harold. Along the way, we learn of her love for Harold but also of her biggest disappointments and her distrust of much of everything else in her life.
I do enjoy the way Joyce uses the natural world in this novel (and in her others) as it almost feels like another background character at times. While Harold remains at home as her steady rock, Maureen goes in search of an answer to an unspoken question connected to the late Queenie. The novella’s question then is will she be capable of true change, of moving on and leaving the decades of bitterness behind.
Definitely recommend this to all who have read The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry and the Love Song of Queenie Hennessy as it completes Maureen’s story.
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an ARC of this book in return for an honest review.
I do enjoy the way Joyce uses the natural world in this novel (and in her others) as it almost feels like another background character at times. While Harold remains at home as her steady rock, Maureen goes in search of an answer to an unspoken question connected to the late Queenie. The novella’s question then is will she be capable of true change, of moving on and leaving the decades of bitterness behind.
Definitely recommend this to all who have read The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry and the Love Song of Queenie Hennessy as it completes Maureen’s story.
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an ARC of this book in return for an honest review.
November 23, 2022
I was really pleased to discover a third book in the Harold Fry series as I enjoyed the other two so much. It was quite surprising, looking back, to discover that I had read the first two books ten and eight years ago respectively yet they were still very much in my mind.
This book is set ten years after the events in the first two books. Maureen has discovered, from one of Harold's former walking partners, that Queenie Hennessey had made a sea garden in the dunes near her former home, which was now called The Garden of Relics. Part of this garden is a shrine to Harold and Maureen's son, David, who had committed suicide thirty years before at the age of 20 - and Maureen is determined to visit the garden to see this shrine. So, with Harold's support, she sets off to drive to Northumberland to visit Queenie's garden, which turns into another journey of self-discovery, this time on Maureen's part....
As with the other two books, I really enjoyed this one - Maureen has a somewhat eventful drive 'up North' from their West Country home, passing many of the landmarks and places that we do when travelling down to Cornwall every year, before reaching her destination and getting a different perspective on both her life and their son's suicide, which she has never been able to cope with:
Extract: 'David's loss was her secret. It was the rock against which she was forever shattered. And Maureen was a loose cannon, firing herself in all directions. She was sundered from life, irrevocably and completely. She would never be free.'
A beautiful and poignant novel although I must admit to being a bit bemused by the choice of title - the 'Angel of the North' only gets a passing reference during Maureen's journey north and I thought perhaps 'Maureen Fry and the Garden of Relics' would have been a better reflection of the content. Nevertheless, this was a good little read and still happy to award it 4 stars - 8/10.
This book is set ten years after the events in the first two books. Maureen has discovered, from one of Harold's former walking partners, that Queenie Hennessey had made a sea garden in the dunes near her former home, which was now called The Garden of Relics. Part of this garden is a shrine to Harold and Maureen's son, David, who had committed suicide thirty years before at the age of 20 - and Maureen is determined to visit the garden to see this shrine. So, with Harold's support, she sets off to drive to Northumberland to visit Queenie's garden, which turns into another journey of self-discovery, this time on Maureen's part....
As with the other two books, I really enjoyed this one - Maureen has a somewhat eventful drive 'up North' from their West Country home, passing many of the landmarks and places that we do when travelling down to Cornwall every year, before reaching her destination and getting a different perspective on both her life and their son's suicide, which she has never been able to cope with:
Extract: 'David's loss was her secret. It was the rock against which she was forever shattered. And Maureen was a loose cannon, firing herself in all directions. She was sundered from life, irrevocably and completely. She would never be free.'
A beautiful and poignant novel although I must admit to being a bit bemused by the choice of title - the 'Angel of the North' only gets a passing reference during Maureen's journey north and I thought perhaps 'Maureen Fry and the Garden of Relics' would have been a better reflection of the content. Nevertheless, this was a good little read and still happy to award it 4 stars - 8/10.
December 2, 2022
I'm glad Maureen got her own story. Unfortunately, this novella just didn't feel as fully developed as Harold's story. It was very sad, and though I found Maureen a sympathetic character, her loneliness and grief were the bulk of the story. I think I would've liked it better had more humor or light-hearted moments been inserted before the ending. I love Rachel Joyce's warmth and empathy and look forward to her next book.
March 12, 2023
I admire Rachel Joyce's writing and how she creates living, breathing characters. Readers who loved her books about Harold and Queenie will want to read this one, also. Maureen is written as a novella and is about Harold's wife. I don't believe it can be read without benefit of having read at least one of the earlier books.
I've found that readers' reactions to the first two books have been uneven. For example, I loved The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy, but did not care for The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry.
As background, Harold and Queenie had worked together for many years. They had a work life together that they shared. During the course of Harold and Maureen's marriage, their teen aged son developed profound depression and took his life. In this last book, we meet Maureen, whose grief has frozen her. She has a coldness to her that is hurtful to both herself and other people. It is now thirty years after her son David's death. Harold has healed and encourages Maureen to visit a place called "Queenie's Garden".
After retirement, Queenie had settled in a small home in northern England. She liked gardening and poured all of her energies into forming a beautiful garden. After Queenie's death, it became a community memorial garden bearing homage to people's loved ones. Maureen is interested in visiting it to see a driftwood marker dedicated to David, Maureen and Harold's son.
The book is the story of Maureen's journey there and how it affects her. When Maureen sees the memorial that Queenie had fashioned for David, she is overcome (at first, with anger). Here are her thoughts:
"This was David. This was him. This was angry; It was violent... Too fragile for the world and yet full of youth and complication and pomp and arrogance. She did not know how such a piece of wood could have survived the wind and rain and yet, secure in Queenie's Garden, it had held fast."
I would like to say that Maureen had a total transformation, but that would have been unrealistic. By the story's end, Maureen had thawed somewhat and grew a bit more understanding of other people and herself.
Additional Note: I was irritated with Harold that he did not go on the trip with Maureen. It was icy, in the middle of winter and she could have used his support.
I've found that readers' reactions to the first two books have been uneven. For example, I loved The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy, but did not care for The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry.
As background, Harold and Queenie had worked together for many years. They had a work life together that they shared. During the course of Harold and Maureen's marriage, their teen aged son developed profound depression and took his life. In this last book, we meet Maureen, whose grief has frozen her. She has a coldness to her that is hurtful to both herself and other people. It is now thirty years after her son David's death. Harold has healed and encourages Maureen to visit a place called "Queenie's Garden".
After retirement, Queenie had settled in a small home in northern England. She liked gardening and poured all of her energies into forming a beautiful garden. After Queenie's death, it became a community memorial garden bearing homage to people's loved ones. Maureen is interested in visiting it to see a driftwood marker dedicated to David, Maureen and Harold's son.
The book is the story of Maureen's journey there and how it affects her. When Maureen sees the memorial that Queenie had fashioned for David, she is overcome (at first, with anger). Here are her thoughts:
"This was David. This was him. This was angry; It was violent... Too fragile for the world and yet full of youth and complication and pomp and arrogance. She did not know how such a piece of wood could have survived the wind and rain and yet, secure in Queenie's Garden, it had held fast."
I would like to say that Maureen had a total transformation, but that would have been unrealistic. By the story's end, Maureen had thawed somewhat and grew a bit more understanding of other people and herself.
Additional Note: I was irritated with Harold that he did not go on the trip with Maureen. It was icy, in the middle of winter and she could have used his support.
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