The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy
As seen:
By Rachel Joyce
avg rating
5 reviews
From the author of the 2 million+ copy, worldwide bestseller, The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, – soon to be a major movie starring Jim Broadbent – an exquisite, funny and heartrending parallel story.
When Queenie Hennessy discovers that Harold Fry is walking the length of England to save her, and all she has to do is wait, she is shocked. Her note had explained she was dying. How can she wait?
A new volunteer at the hospice suggests that Queenie should write again; only this time she must tell Harold everything. In confessing to secrets she has hidden for twenty years, she will find atonement for the past. As the volunteer points out, ‘Even though you’ve done your travelling, you’re starting a new journey too.’
Queenie thought her first letter would be the end of the story. She was wrong. It was the beginning.
Told in simple, emotionally-honest prose, with a mischievous bite, this is a novel about the journey we all must take to learn who we are; it is about loving and letting go. And most of all it is about finding joy in unexpected places and at times we least expect.
-————————————————————————————————————————————
‘A beautiful story which will grip you, make you laugh and cry, uplift your spirit and leave you feeling profoundly grateful’ DAILY MAIL
‘Will leave you wide-eyed and wanting to read it all again . . . wondrous’ THE TIMES
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
RACHEL JOYCE’S NEW NOVEL MAUREEN FRY AND THE ANGEL OF THE NORTH – THE FINAL PART OF THE HAROLD FRY TRILOGY – IS PUBLISHED IN OCTOBER 2022
Reviews
Beautifully written.
Almost everyone in the book club finished this months book, although not everyone enjoyed it. It was felt that although the style was very light and it was easy to read it wasn't every enjoyable.
This is a parallel book running alongside the story told in "The Unlikely Pilgrimage Of Harold Fry", which most of the book club members have read for a previous meeting. However, there were some new members who had not read the first book and they felt that they might have been missing something from this book having not read Harold Fry. They did enjoy parts of the book but they wondered if some elements might have had a better explanation if they had read both books. However, on the whole the books do work well as stand alones.
It was interesting reading about the hospice where Queenie was spending her last few months, we felt that it wasn't as bleak and dark as we expected it. In fact there were some lovely humorous elements along with some entertaining characters such as Finty, in amongst the many visits of the undertakers car. It felt as though the people there were trying to live their lives as best they could rather than thinking about the things that were wrong with them. We're not sure if this is completely accurate, but Joyce did do a lot of research by visiting hospices so we can only assume that it is.
We felt very sorry for Queenie as she seemed to be on the edges throughout her life until the moment that Harold decided to go on his walk to visit her. Queenie just seemed to be like background noise in peoples lives, she seemed to think she was important but in fact we don't think that many people really noticed her at all. She didn't seem to have a proper close relationship with anyone within the book, she always seemed to not want to get close to anyone, there was always a reason for this but never a particularly good reason. Although given this she did seem to find a certain type of happiness within her life, nothing big and flashy but possibly enough for her?
The relationship between Queenie and David was interesting as this did add an extra element to the Harold Fry book which we hadn't seen before. In fact we hadn't really got to know David before so he was in fact an extra character in this book compared to Harold Fry.
Overall we gave this book 6.5 out of 10.
I loved Harold Fry and eagerly grabbed a copy to hear Queenie s story. I felt a totally different Queenie than I imagined. I felt deflated from her tale. I couldn't understand why she reacted with Harold's son as she did. A far fetched situation
This is the follow up to the unlikely pilgrimage of Harold Fry.
Hilarious and heartbreaking at the same time.
Queenie and Harold would have to be my favourite characters but all the characters are extremely likeable.
I'd recommend anything by Rachel Joyce. She's a very good writer.
I enjoyed this as I had read the first book about Harold Fry and his journey to see Queenie. I enjoyed both but probably the first book better. I found Queen's deference irritating. Although the lovely insights into hospice care for the dying from Queenie's own journey were very touching. The text is enriched by some beautiful illustrations.
