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The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry
By Rachel Joyce
(Random House, Hardcover, 9780812993295, July 24, 2012, 336pp.)

The Short of It:

Beauty is sometimes obvious and at other times, more difficult to come by but as this novel unfolds… so does its beauty. What a gem!

The Rest of It:

Harold Fry and his wife Maureen live in a small English village. Retired and in their sixties, their lives are filled with the routines of the day, but deep inside they are both agonizing over what was…and can’t seem to figure out what to do next. Things have gotten so bad between them, that Maureen sleeps in the guest room and cannot stand the sight of him. Harold, although agreeable and always the gentleman, is okay with the situation which angers Maureen even more.

One day, Harold receives a letter from an old colleague by the name of Queenie Hennessey. The letter is brief, but devastating. Queenie is terminally ill and writing from a hospice. With only so many days to live, the letter serves as her goodbye to him. At first his plan is to send her a quick reply, but on his way to the post office he decides to just keep walking.

This book was spectacularly good but in the most quiet way possible. When Harold sets off in nothing but yachting shoes and the clothes on his back, you can’t help but feel his desperation. How bad can it be for a person to just walk away from life? But Harold doesn’t leave Maureen. Instead, he sees it as a remedy for everything that’s gone wrong. It’s a way to keep Queenie alive and it’s a way for him to remember how it used to be. Throughout the trip, Harold is plagued by memories both good and bad and in between them, are his moments with Maureen by phone.

As Harold makes his way to Queenie, he encounters many characters along the way. Most of them kind, all of them supportive. He is touched by the kindness of strangers and even though his body seems to be on the brink of falling apart, he continues to push himself on not really knowing what he’ll encounter once he gets there, but knowing that this journey is one of the most important ones he’ll ever make.

At the same time, Maureen is left to wonder about her own life and where she stands in all of this. Not really given a choice in the matter, she decides to sit tight and wait for a sign. The sign comes in the form of a well-meaning neighbor. A neighbor who has a knack for providing the right advice at exactly the right time. With his help, she works to see the journey through Harold’s eyes.

I adored this book. It was lovely and charming and one of those “complete package” reads that you just want to kiss and tuck under your pillow. I felt good and sad and happy and mad. It took me up and down and I loved every minute of it. It will absolutely be on my list of favorites for 2012.

If you’ d like a chance to kiss it and tuck it under your pillow, enter the giveaway for a chance to win your own copy! Details below.

To view Rachel’s other TLC tour stops, click here.

GIVEAWAY INFORMATION

This giveaway is for one copy of The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry and is open to the US only (no PO boxes). A winner will be chosen randomly by me. The book will come directly from the publisher. Only one entry per person. Giveaway closes on July 29, 2012 (pacific). I will contact the winner.

To enter the giveaway, please click here. (This giveaway has closed!)

Source: Review and giveaway copy provided by the publisher via TLC Book Tours.
Disclosure: This post contains Indiebound affiliate links.

The Redbreast
By Jo Nesbø
(Harper, Mass Market Paperback, 9780062068422, August 2011, 576pp.)

The Short of It:

Took a little time for the story to build but ended up being a rather satisfying read.

The Rest of It:

This will be short because my hand is a hurtin’!

This story is a mix of old and new and leaps back and forth in the telling. Part war story, part crime fiction. The war story involves the Norwegian’s fight against the Russians which leads up to the creation of a neo-Nazi movement in Oslo right around the turn of the 21st century.

In the present day, Officer Harry Hole accidentally shoots a secret service agent and is given a “promotion” which basically means that he is assigned to a glorified desk job. However, when he realizes that the shell casings from that day appear to be from a weapon that is no longer around, he digs deeper and what he finds goes all the way back to WWII.

The Redbreast is the third book in the series featuring Detective Harry Hole but it was not my first time meeting Harry. No, I started with book #5 The Devil’s Star and have been reading them out-of-order ever since. The books are wonderful but they have been translated out-of-order which makes it ~~difficult~~ impossible to read them in order. In fact, the first two books are not available anywhere so you make do with what you can get.

However, the evolution of Harry as a person is what keeps me reading and I don’t mind taking these trips back into his past to see how he started out. The latest books in the series seem tighter and more fast paced whereas the older books include quite a bit of set-up. The first half of The Redbreast was very slow and tedious for me, but once I passed the halfway mark I was in familiar territory and loving every minute.

Nesbo’s books contain a sophisticated air that I don’t normally detect in American crime fiction. The tone is a bit different and although I can’t quite put my finger on why, it works for me. If you enjoy well-written crime fiction, you cannot go wrong with this series. Even if you have to read them out-of-order.

Source: Purchased
Disclosure: This post contains Indiebound affiliate links.

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