The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry

The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce (2012) 320 pages

Harold is retired with little to do. He and his wife, Maureen, have long ago lost their spark. One day, Harold receives a letter from a former co-worker, Queenie, who had left her job suddenly more than 20 years ago. Queenie has cancer and has written to say goodbye. Harold writes a sentence or two and goes out to mail it. but keeps passing up mailboxes to walk farther before mailing the letter. Somehow the thought arises that he should visit Queenie in her hospice, some 500 miles away, so he just keeps walking.

Once the reader can accept this idea - along with the thought that by walking (not driving), he can keep Queenie alive longer - a new purpose for Harold is set into play. He walks, he thinks, he talks to people. He calls Maureen from time to time. Maureen, by the way, is bewildered by his actions, and actually starts to think back on their relationship's origin and reassess her opinion of Harold. Harold is doing the same - for his relationships with Maureen, their son David, Harold's parents, his old boss, and Queenie.

It's a tough trip, and especially so as Harold picks up disciples along the way.

What seems to be a simple story expands, often injecting surprises. I liked it, and had to see what happened at the end.

The Last Devil to Die

The Last Devil to Die by Richard Osman (2023) 353 pages

As one might do with a dessert that one wants to savor, I held off on reading this fourth book in the "Thursday Murder Club" series until I couldn't wait any longer. The four main characters in the series, Elizabeth, Joyce, Ron and Ibrahim, all in their seventies and eighties, learn that a friend of theirs, Kuldesh, a dealer in antiques, has been murdered. Elizabeth, who was formerly in the MI-5 or MI-6 in her younger days, is especially incensed because the murdered man was a good friend of her husband, who is now suffering from dementia. When the group learns that Kuldesh had taken possession of an old box filled with heroin in his shop, which he was then supposed to resell the next day, they wonder why did Kuldesh get involved in this deal? Why didn't he inform the authorities? Instead, Kuldesh made some phone calls and hid the drugs, and then he was murdered for it. The hunt is on for the murderer, which means the group needs to follow the heroin. A number of suspects in the heroin industry emerge along with a married couple who deal in art forgeries, and some of these characters are fairly well-developed and humanized. The Murder Club invites a number of them to a meal in the private dining room at their community, and they actually show up. These gutsy old people don't seem afraid of much!

The point of view switches with each chapter. The entries from Joyce's point of view are often the most entertaining, and we see the often over-chatty retired nurse fill in capably for Elizabeth when Elizabeth is absent for a time. We continue to learn more about all of the original four retirees, and see them continue to add friends and lovers to their ranks, which makes them seem more real somehow. The story is laced with humor, action, and a share of poignancy.