Rachel Joyce: The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy

Hi again

The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy by Rachel Joyce is a companion novel to The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry (which I loved).
You  can find all my Rachel Joyce reviewshere.
My copy has 381 pages and I got it from Bol.

 “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.”

This was a particularly moving book. 

Harold Fry stole my heart, but so did Queenie Hennessy. I was hesitant to read the book, that’s why it took me such a long time to get to it but it’s absolutely beautiful.

Joyce’s writing is great, really elegant and very absorbing, she has an eye for detail and she still manages to keep the tone light, humorous and easy to digest despite the harsh reality of the book. It raises some serious life issues but it never gets dramatic or weepy. It’s emotional and very tragic, but in a nice, beautiful way. It’s definitely thought-provoking.
It’s touching, moving and so much more than a story about illness, regret, loss and death.
It made me cry and it made me smile, and sometimes both at the same time.
I loved it a lot.

As an added bonus we got gorgeous illustrations on some of the pages.

5 STARS

Happy reading!
Helena