by Rachel Joyce
First published 2014
Queenie Hennessy sits in her hospice bed, stunned by news that Harold Fry is walking the entire length of England to keep her alive. She had written to tell him she was dying. Now she must wait, but waiting feels impossible when death approaches. A hospice volunteer makes a suggestion. Queenie should write to Harold again, but this time she must tell him everything she has kept secret for twenty years. As Queenie begins her confession, she starts her own journey of discovery. She believed her first letter marked an ending. Instead, it becomes a beginning. Through her writing, she seeks forgiveness for past mistakes and finds unexpected moments of joy. While Harold travels the roads of England, Queenie travels through memory and truth, learning who she really is and what it means to love and release.
Genres: romance, literary-fiction, contemporary
Vibes: emotional, intimate, lyrical, thought-provoking
Tropes: confession, found-family, second-chance
Setting: England
Period: 20th-century
355 pages · Hardcover · Transworld Digital
Content warnings: death, terminal-illness