The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, Rachel Joyce

The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry
by Rachel Joyce

(Tansley Reads Rating: 57%)

Icebreaker: Is there something you’d like to do spontaneously, but have never done? Or an impulse you wish you had followed?

Discussion

1. Why did Queenie send Harold the letter? Why did Harold respond to it as he did, by setting out on this pilgrimage?

2. Harold says he is not a religious man but his journey is called a pilgrimage and it is undoubtedly a leap of faith. How much does the author draw on Christian tenets and/ or other belief systems in the novel?

3.  Harold meets many other people along the way. What is their importance to his journey?

4. The novel is about Harold’s journeys, both physical and emotional. But what about Maureen’s? What led her to eventual acceptance of shared sorrow and responsibility?

5. Harold’s journey only became public because of a chance encounter with a journalist, but once it did – why did it catch on with the public so dramatically?

6. Of all the “disciples” which did you like most and least? Why?

7. Unexpressed grief and regret play a key part in the novel.  What do Harold, Maureen, Rex and others have to do about these emotions?

8. Do you see Harold as a stereotypical Englishman? How crucial to the telling of the story is the actual physical and cultural landscape of England? How would it change the novel if it was set in Canada or the US?

9. Who saves who in this novel? Does Harold save Queenie, or Queenie save Harold?

10. Where do Maureen and Harold go from here? What happens the next day, week, year or 10 years from now?

11.  Was there anything you wanted to mention about the book that didn’t come up in discussion?

12. Fast-around: What did you think of the book, overall?