The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy (Harold Fry, #2) in Play Book Tag

Oct 20, 2022 Liz rated it really liked it

Shelves: audio, library

The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy is the second in the Harold Fry trilogy. I just now listened to it because Rachel Joyce has written the third book in the series.
Queenie had an unrequited love for Harold Fry the entire time they worked together at the brewery. She left the brewery decades ago and moved to the other end of England. Now, she is dying of cancer. When Harold learns, he begins walking the length of England to see her. The story of that walk encompassed The Unlikely Pilgrimage ...more

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May 05, 2017 Book Concierge rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: concierge, strong-women, library, audio, relationships, england, love, literary-fiction

Audiobook performed by Celia Imrie

From the book jacket: The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry followed its unassuming hero as he traveled the length of England – a journey spurred by a simple letter from his old friend Queenie Hennessy, writing from a hospice to say goodbye. Harold believed that as long as he kept walking Queenie would live. What he didn’t know was that his decision to walk had caused her both alarm and fear. How could she wait? What would she say? Forced to confront the past, Q Audiobook performed by Celia Imrie

From the book jacket: The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry followed its unassuming hero as he traveled the length of England – a journey spurred by a simple letter from his old friend Queenie Hennessy, writing from a hospice to say goodbye. Harold believed that as long as he kept walking Queenie would live. What he didn’t know was that his decision to walk had caused her both alarm and fear. How could she wait? What would she say? Forced to confront the past, Queenie realizes she must write again.

My reactions
Oh, I love Queenie! She admits that her first instinct when faced with a difficult situation has always been to flee – from home, from university, from Harold Fry. Now, at the end of her life she faces the secrets she has been hiding, and hiding from, with courage and grace, and pours out her heart in a long letter to her one love, Harold Fry. This is a love that was never declared, and certainly unrequited, but a love that will ultimately help Queenie achieve peace.

Joyce also gives us more about David’s struggles. I have to say I really disliked this young man. Yes, I understand his great unhappiness and depression, but I wanted to just slap him for his cruelty and lashing-out. His story is incredibly sad, but I can’t find it in my heart to sympathize with him.

But the book is not an unrelenting exercise in self-examination and regret. Queenie is at a hospice center, and there are other patients as well as the nuns who care for everyone. Joyce gives us glimmers of these patients’ personalities, of their hopes, dreams, fears. Some lend a bit of humor to what might otherwise be a very bleak story, and for that I’m thankful. And as word spreads of Harold’s journey to visit his dying friend, hope surges in their hearts and everyone adopts his request to Queenie … they will ALL wait for Harold. They will all wait for one more chance to express love and forgiveness.

Celia Imrie does a fine job of performing the audiobook. She has good pacing and skill as a voice artist. I did have the text handy, however, and I think I might have enjoyed the book even more if I read it rather than listened. Changes in typeface, use of quotations (or not), etc make it more clear when someone is speaking vs just thinking. And the text also has a lovely illustration of Queenie’s Sea Garden; I’ve looked at it several times now, imagining walking through, feeling the breeze, smelling the sea air, listening to birds and enjoying the peace.

...more

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May 08, 2025 Booknblues rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: added-2022, england, literary-fiction, contemporary-fiction, strong-women

I read The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry over a decade ago shortly after it was first released and I loved it dearly. It remains one of my favorite books. I've read so many reviews of The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy which raved over it and had friends tell me that it was even better than dear Harold Fry. Despite all that, I've felt a great reluctance to read it fearing that it would take some of the luster from Harold who trod so faithfully towards Queenie.

For me while it is a layered ...more

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Oct 26, 2017 Rachel N. rated it it was amazing

Shelves: read-in-2017, england, death, friendship, love, forgiveness, happiness

The other half of the story started in The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry. Queenie Hennessy is in a hospice and when she's informed Harold is walking the length of England to come see her she starts writing him a letter in which she admits to loving Harold. Queenie was also friends with Harold's son David, something Harold didn't know. The book alternates between Queenie's past and her time at the hospice and the friends she makes there. The book started a bit slow but then I started really l ...more

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Mar 31, 2018 Diana S rated it really liked it

Shelves: gr-picks-4-tournaments-ob-2016, audio-book, 5000-books, read-in-2018, march-april-tbr-2018

4.5 stars ****

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Dec 21, 2018 Anna rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Ms. Joyce insists that this is not a sequel to her previous book, The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, but is a companion volume and I completely agree. This does not follow on from her earlier book but is written from Queenie's perspective as she lies in the hospice awaiting Harold's arrival.

For my full review please visit my blog at: https://leftontheshelfbookblog.blogsp... ...more

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Feb 19, 2015 Sara rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: pub-2014, england, relationships, contemporary-fiction, galley

Miss Queenie Hennessy is dying. She leaves behind no family, no friends. Yet she carries a past that haunts her. In an effort to set her effects in order before her, she writes to a man who had once been a co-worker and friend. When he responds with a note to wait for him as he crosses the length of England on foot, she panics. What can she say to this man from whom she has So with the aid of one of the volunteer nuns at the hospice she begins to write everything she had never told him, a fina ...more

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Aug 21, 2015 Jgrace rated it it was amazing

Shelves: contemporary-fiction, jgrace, grief, audio, judithg, read-in-2015, epistolary, humor, magical-realism, aging

The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy -Joyce
audio performance by Celia Imri
5 stars

In the first book Harold Fry makes his unlikely pilgrimage after a receiving a letter from the terminally ill Queenie Hennessy. Harold has the vague and unformed idea that as long as he keeps walking Queenie will not die. Harold, if he is thinking at all, is assuming that Queenie doesn’t want to die. Harold has unfinished business with Queenie. He needs her to stay alive. But what about Queenie?

This is Queenie’s ...more

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May 17, 2017 Andrew rated it it was amazing

Shelves: series-complete, 350-series

How do I describe this book - beautiful, poignant, sad, happy, entertaining, funny, thought provoking & a great reading experience. It is all these things & more. This book should be read and do read it alongside it's companion book, The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry. As the author says at the end it is not a prequel or a sequel but a companion. I am so glad I chose to read these two books, and am sad to have to say goodbye to the characters! ...more

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Jan 28, 2019 Nancy rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2019-books, waiting-challenge, 80-countries

4.5 I loved this almost as much as The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry. The book tells Queenie's side of Harold's story. A deeply touching story written beautifully by Ms Joyce. ...more

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