Maureen is a caring women—very set in her ways, getting by in life—but maybe not really happy with the hand that has been dealt her. She takes off on her own on a quest that is calling to her, something that she is compelled to see though to the end. Along the way and by the end of her journey, she discovers a lot about herself, her husband, and the world she finds herself drowning in. This was definitely a journey of a lifetime.

I enjoyed following along with Maureen through her travels and as she grows and finds happiness. This is book three in the Harold Fry trilogy and it's said the books can be read a standalone. While that may be true, I read book one, The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, before reading Maureen and I'm so glad I did. I had a better understanding of Maureen and what she was going through and the reason for her quest. I think I'd now like to read book two, The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy, to find out more about Queenie and why she was such a strong influence on this couple.

Overall this is a wonderful series full of discovery, growth, and reconciliation.

As one of the millions of readers around the world who read and loved "The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry" and "The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessey", it was a no-brainer that I would read "Maureen", a novella that completes the story from the point of view of Harold's wife.

In this book we meet up with the couple when Harold is seventy-five and Maureen is seventy-two. Together they weathered lockdown and are in a comfortable, good place in their long marriage. There is just one thing that mars their equilibrium. Maureen wants to see Queenie's garden. She feels that she will be able to connect with her son David there. David, her beloved son, commit suicide when he was just twenty years old - thirty years ago. Her grief has never left her.

"David's loss was her secret. It was the rock against which she was forever shattered."

She sets out on a car journey north, leaving Harold behind. She is determined to make the trip with just one night away from her husband. Maureen admits that she is not an 'easy' person like her husband. She does not make friends easily and she is every so slightly judgemental... Her road trip contains events that bring Maureen much consternation and discomfort.

"Maureen" is written with Joyce's usual empathy, pathos, and skill - with more than a bit of levity thrown in to lighten the narrative. It is no secret that I am a huge fan of this author's work.

Here she writes eloquently of loss, parental bereavement, loneliness, and how, if we really try, we can learn to be the people we would like to be...

Highly recommended!

Having thoroughly enjoyed the books about Harold Fry and Queenie Hennessy so it was nice to have some closure for Maureen. I can only begin to imagine how hard life was for her after she lost her son and it was nice for her to find some healing as her husband did.

I had read both [book:The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry|13227454] [book:The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy|20890479]and really enjoyed it, so I was happy to pick up this third book in the Harold Fry series. This one is the story of Maureen, Harold's wife.

Maureen has her own issues, the main one being the loss of her and Harold's son, David. Maureen has never been able to deal with the grief of losing their son. Maureen finds out about a memorial to David at Queenie's Sea Garden. Maureen decides to take her own journey to go to this memorial and see it for herself. She is not as good with people as Harold and has difficulty on her journey. But she meets some wonderful people along the way. Her journey was remarkable.

This book was beautifully written, as are all the books in this series. I think it would be most helpful to read the other two books in the series before reading this one, as the context is important to the story.

Thanks to Random House Publishing Group through Netgalley for an advance copy. This book will be published on February 7, 2023.

This read would have been much more enjoyable if I had read the previous two books which, I am assuming, introduced the characters and set the stage for Maureen. I have to admit that I did not check to see if it is in a series. This book is focused on Harold’s wife, Maureen. I was not able to identify with Maureen until the early morning hours she spent in the garden. I was sobbing as she conversed with her son. So happy she seems in a better place in her life.
I do wish I had gotten to know Harold and his walk as that was clearly pivotal to Maureen’s trip. Based on reading it as a stand alone I would give it 2 1/2 stars.many thanks to Rachel Joyce, Doubleday, and NetGalley for affording me the opportunity to read an arc of Maureen, to be published on February 7th.

I was first introduced to Harold Fry in 2016 and truly enjoyed his story. I quickly followed that up with Queenie’s story a few months later. Maureen was a person who I wished to know more about, but I didn’t know I needed her story too until I saw it announced that she was getting her own tale. Where Harold’s is a tale of forgiveness and Queenie’s is about understanding, Maureen’s is about letting go.

Maureen is a mother without a child, even 30 years after his death. She has tried to move on and enjoy life, but she can’t without her son. She feels the world has lost its glow and that happiness shouldn’t be allowed. As someone who has lost someone very close to me recently, I can completely understand Maureen’s feelings. On her journey, she learns more about herself, who she was, and who she can be.

Written as a pandemic project, there are references to the pandemic and the restrictions throughout. My only wish for the book is that it could have been longer than 192 pages. Why? So I could see more of Maureen’s growth and acceptance of the world as it is now.

If you have read The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry and The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy, you can’t miss out on reading Maureen. Each book in the series is more of a companion novel than a true series. But, there are events in the previous books referenced in Maureen.

Are you looking for a short read that has some major character development? Look no further than Maureen by Rachel Joyce.

So sad the end of the Harold Fry trilogy. I have become attached to all the characters In all the books and it’s like losing a friend reading this final installment. Rachel Joyce thank you for 3;beautiful stories!!

Making this short and sweet. I loved it.

perfect ending to this series.
It's been 10 years and it's Maureen's turn to go on her own pilgrimage. I was so very happy that Maureen got that bit of closure she needed after loosing her son, David


My thanks to NetGalley, the author and publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Random House Dial Press for gifting me a digital ARC of the final in the Harold Fry series - 4.5 stars!

In The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, we learned of his walk across England; in the Love Song of Miss Queenie, we learn her backstory. Now it's time for Maureen, Harold's wife, to tell us her story. Maureen is angry and hurt over the loss of her son 20 years ago. She decides she needs to visit the memorial to David that Queenie made but she'll do it by car, instead of walking like Harold did.

Maureen has never dealt with her grief and anger over losing David, and has never let anyone get close to her. This is the story of her coming to terms with how to live with her grief so that she can live. An important lesson for all. While this book is of course better read as the series end, it's a good story nonetheless on its own.

I received this book for free from Netgalley. That did not influence this review.

Maureen by Rachel Joyce is the third book in the Harold Frye trilogy. I loved The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Frye. It’s hard to believe I read it more than a decade ago. A lot has happened in ten years and Maureen takes this all into account, up to and including the pandemic.

Harold’s unlikely pilgrimage was a 500 mile walk to see a dying friend. The walk helped heal the heartbreak he felt after the death of his son, a tragedy that fractured his marriage. Maureen is Harold’s wife, the woman he found his way back to all those years ago. For a while, their marriage seemed repaired, but Maureen is still not over David’s death. How could she be? So now, it’s time for her to make a pilgrimage of her own.

Queenie (the dying friend of Harold from book 1) created a sculpture garden before she died. The garden consists of driftwood pieces and artifacts left by others as remembrances of lost loved ones. It was dedicated to David – Maureen and Harold’s son. Maureen has never seen the garden and, partly prompted by the cabin fever of the pandemic, she has become obsessed with it. At Harold’s prompting, she sets off (in her car, not on foot) to see it.

She has a good deal of trouble along the way. She does not find the journey uplifting. Unlike Harold, who thrived on his interactions with strangers who became friends, Maureen is cranky and does not deal well with people. But the garden does move her – to anger first, but finally to understanding and acceptance.

This is a lovely story about unbearable pain and the redemptive power of kindness and love. I didn’t read book two, Queenie’s story, and I don’t think you need to in order to enjoy this one, but I do think you need to read Harold’s story first to fully appreciate Maureen’s.

The last of the Harold Fry trilogy, this time featuring Maureen, Harold's wife. She hears about Queenie's garden in Embleton Bay and that her son David is in it, so she makes a pilgrimage of her own to see it, to find him in it.

Along the way she learns some necessary lessons. All her life she's felt she was 'being measured against something she didn't understand and would never get right.' Maybe that's why she has a tendency to judge other people, before they have the chance to judge her.

Rachel Joyce is so wise! She sees the 'essential loneliness of people' and digs into the causes of it. No matter what, they deserve respect. I am the richer for having read these books.

I received an arc from the author and publisher via NetGalley. Many thanks for the opportunity. Receiving this book nudged me to read The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy before starting this one. I think it would be wonderful to read all three books back to back.
Disclaimer: My review is voluntary and the opinions expressed are my own.

Perfect ending to Rachel Joyce’s Harold Fry trilogy. Maureen set out on her own journey ten years after her husband, Harold, walked across England to see his former workmate, Queenie, who was dying. However, Maureen does not walk; she drives. This book could be read as a stand alone. I read the first book but did not read the second book. Maureen is struggling. Her son committed suicide as a young man and she still harbors jealousy toward Queenie. While Maureen is hard to like by the reader and many of the people she meets along the way, she has “this little something” that endeared herself to me. Nothing seems to go right during her journey. I found myself having a tear in my eye several times. I kept asking her, “Why did you do that Maureen?” The reader will ascertain whether she finds herself by the end of the book. Make sure you read the author notes and an email interview that the author does with Maureen at the end of the book. Loved it! My thanks to Random House and NetGalley for ARC of this book. The opinions in this review are my own.

Simply put, I have fallen in love with Maureen -- the prickly and feisty wife of Harold Fry. Although I haven't read the first two books in the Harold Fry trilogy (nothing like starting with the final book), author Rachel Joyce gives her readers enough background information that anyone reading this third book will know Maureen's background story.

Ten years after her husband Harold has made his walking pilgrimage to visit his dying friend, Queenie, Maureen sets out on her own pilgrimage (by car, not foot). Following her son's suicide so many years ago, Maureen's grief continues to hang heavy in her heart and this pilgrimage (without giving away any spoilers) is one that she hopes will provide some solace.

As she makes this solitary journey, readers come to see this complicated and hurt woman evolve in a way that warms the heart. I look forward to reading the first two books of the Harold Fry trilogy.

I would like to thank #NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for this electronic ARC of #Maureen.

Maureen is the third, and I believe final, installment of Rachel Joyce's Harold Fry series. I enjoyed The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry in 2015 and didn't realize there was more to the story until I saw Maureen pop up in on my NetGalley list. So, I binge read The Love Song of Queenie Hennessey (fantastic, I cried) before diving in to Maureen's story, the seemingly bitter and angry wife of Harold Fry. As a side note, I do think a reader would need to read at least one of the first two books to really appreciate Maureen.

Unlike the first two novels in this series, which occur during the same timeline like companions, Maureen pulls us forward 10 years to 2020. The pandemic is happening, but it's finally time for Maureen's journey of healing. Maureen is a more of a novella, so we definitely don't get the same breadth of character and experience as we did with Harold or Queenie, but I still think Maureen's grief and the nuances of her personality are adequately portrayed and the conclusion of this story (really - it's David's story isn't it? Told in three parts through the eyes of those who loved him) was moving and satisfying.

I've come to really love Rachel Joyce's writing and Maureen was no exception. She always makes me feel so much. I laughed and I cried with Harold, Queenie, and Maureen. If you loved Harold and Queenie, I think you'll love Maureen as well.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing for an advanced copy for review. All opinions are my own.

I was not sure I was ready for Maureen's story.

The last of the Harold Fry trilogy tells the story of Harold's wife, Maureen. In the first two books (The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, and The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy), Maureen seems to be a bitter, angry woman. She doesn't understand her husband's friendship with Queenie, she is devasted by her son's death, and she doesn't seem to want to change.

"Maureen" brings us to the present. Queenie is dead and Harold has settled back into his life including age-related mobility problems. And now it is Maureen's turn to take a pilgrimage and to try to come to some terms with what she knows of Queenie and with her son's death.

Maureen hasn't changed. She is still jealous and small-minded. But circumstances can change a person, and as Maureen travels to Queenie's famous seaside garden, her misadventures help us to understand her better, and her to perhaps understand herself.

I'm glad I came to know Maureen's story!

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Thank Netgalley for the ARC, I started this but had a really hard time getting into it. I think the problem is I am jumping into three part series, without having read parts 1-2. So, I was confused and didn't have a deep connection with the characters. I am giving up at this point, but I am sure those who read the first 2 books and enjoyed it would like the read the latest in this series.

Maureen is a bitter, grumpy woman. Weighed down on life she is about to embark on a journey that will change everything. Finding herself in situations that cause her to rely on others, opens her eyes to things she’s been missing all along. This book continues the story of The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, a book that I didn’t read … unfortunately!! While I could figure out some things, I’m sure there are many that I missed. I would definitely suggest reading it first before picking this one up! Thank you to Dial Press and NetGalley for an ARC of this book.

Maureen has a journey she feels the need to take, but different from the journey her husband, Harold, took ten years earlier. She still hasn’t healed from the death of her son by suicide thirty years ago. So, with the encouragement of Harold, she sets out on her own journey. Her life is changed with the people she meets and her experiences along the way. A warm hearted and poignant story.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advance copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I rarely cry while reading fiction. I cried so much reading this touching story. Maureen suffered the most painful loss a mother can suffer. But also she could not move forward or past her pain. I read the first two Harold Fry books. So this book was set up for me. Harold found a way to cope. His journey. His forgiving himself for what was impossible to forgive. Maureen had to make a journey of her own. It was hard on her. Grief is heart wrenching. This is a book I will read over again.
#netgalley #Maureen #RachelJoyce

After Harold Fry went on his 600 mile walk, his wife Maureen makes her own pilgrimage. She struggles with people unlike Harold. This novel is about love and coming to terms with the past. The last novel in the Harold Fry series by Rachel Joyce.