Harold realises this is a totally inadequate response, as his four attempts at posting the letter show. The extent of Harold’s inadequacies as a sentient human being are made very clear when he pens a letter to Queenie of the briefest, most desultory kind, even crossing out the word “ Love” and putting “Best wishes” instead. His Harold is a quiet man, living modestly in retirement in south Devon, who is suddenly galvanised into changing his life by a letter from an old friend and colleague, Queenie (Linda Bassett), now dying of cancer in a hospice in Berwick-on-Tweed. Joyce, a radio-dramatist turned novelist, is less sure-footed when attempting satire, and Harold's run-ins with film stars and assorted media folk are far less elegantly handled than her tender description of the kind Slovakian doctor who tends to Harold or the young girl in the petrol station who inadvertently makes him believe in himself.Broadbent has another grumpy wife here: after Helen Mirren in The Duke, Penelope Wilton (pictured below with Broadbent) plays Maureen, a sour woman with little to bring joy to her days. At one point he attracts a growing band of fellow pilgrims and becomes the centre of a media storm. Some are moved by his act, others bemused. Along the way he encounters many different people. There are Biblical overtones and elements of parable to Harold's story. Joyce's writing is clean and simple, at times deceptively so. She remembers her husband as he once was and everything he once meant to her.
Without maps or waterproofs and only yachting shoes on his feet, he walks and walks, while his wife Maureen waits at home at first she is angered by what she perceives as abandonment but eventually his distance allows her emotions to resurface. He believes that in some way his journey will help his friend to live. When Harold Fry, a timid man in his later years, discovers that a former friend and colleague is seriously ill, he sets out with the intention of posting her a letter but instead embarks on 600-mile walk from Devon to Berwick-upon-Tweed. T his Booker long-listed debut novel begins with the arrival of an unexpected letter and an impulsive act.
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