We've just selected our
first ever
Waterstones Cirencester Book of the Month!
The choice was a unanimous vote for....
The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry
by Rachel Joyce
We LOVE this book and we're really proud to be able to call Rachel a local author!
Harold Fry started out as a (Tinniswood award winning) Radio 4 play and has gone on to become a Booker longlisted novel. It was chosen as a Waterstones 11 title last year, celebrating its status as one of our favourite debuts of 2012.
Now out in paperback, we wanted to honour it locally!
The beauty of Harold Fry is that it's one of those books that everyone seems to love, regardless of age or gender. It would be hard to read it and remain unmoved - the reader very much joins Harold on his pilgrimage.
It's also one of those novels you want to go back and re-read and re-discover. Rachel's writing is beautiful and conveys so much in a very fluid and visual style. It really would make a great film! (Jim Broadbent gets our vote.)
We think it's a perfect book for book groups - there's so much to discuss, although we're reluctant to elaborate as we don't want to give too much away. Suffice to say that Harold goes on an emotional and spiritual journey, as well as a physical one. It's also interesting to consider this very 21st century pilgrimage in the light of other books on the subject such as Chaucer's Canterbury Tales and John Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress.
'The letter that would change everything arrived on a Tuesday.'
Harold's story begins here, on 'an ordinary morning in mid-April'. He sets off to post a reply to the letter...and keeps on walking... An unlikely pilgrimage - a captivating and wonderful one too.
Don't just take our word for it; read some of the comments others have made:
'From the moment I met Harold Fry, I didn't want to leave him. Impossible to put down' Erica Wagner in The Times
'Distinguished by remarkable confidence... Polished to perfection...
Joyce's experience as a playwright shows in her ear for dialogue and eye
for character diatom - even the walk-on parts stay with you as real
people. She handles her material with deceptive lightness but Harold's
journey towards a better version of himself is totemic. To read about
him is to be moved to follow him' The Telegraph
'Joyce has written an appealing, sentimental story about "it never being
too late to right a wrong" indeed, but she also has created, with
admirable ease, the kind of character whom readers will struggle to
forget, who is genuine from the very beginning (despite having secrets
of his own). Her prose style is appropriately straightforward yet also
emotionally gripping, to make a 21st-century morality tale that
ultimately, and perhaps surprisingly, celebrates the kindness of
strangers.' The Independent
Join us in reading this wonderful book. Join Harold!
Please do visit Rachel's website and read more about the inspiration behind her writing of the book. Just click on the book jacket image and it will take you there.
