The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry

Harold enjoys walking alone with the dog—which he named Dog. After separating from the pilgrims, he finds that he prefers not to speak to anyone in the towns he visits. He and Dog keep to themselves and sleep on the edge of town to avoid crowds. Without the noise of the group, Harold returns to his thoughts; he remembers tender, happy times with Maureen and David and joyful drives with Queenie. Harold continues to forage for wild or discarded food and drinks from streams, only occasionally accepting food from strangers. A passerby mentions being sad to lose him and offers well wishes, but Harold does not understand what she means. The weather turns foul; Harold’s depression returns with the cold and the rain. He shivers all night and struggles to sleep, plagued again by painful memories of the past, particularly times when David was in the throes of addiction. Hoping he will feel better when he begins walking again, Harold gets back on the trail, but the cold and loneliness remain, and he sinks further into depression. Harold endures an existential crisis. He sees himself as infinitesimally small in the scope of the universe, rendering him powerless to make a difference in anything: “The more he dwelt on how little he mattered, the more he believed it” (266). He tries to think back on all the people he met, but the journey behind him feels blurry and distant, and he cannot remember himself being a part of it at all. Harold concludes that his greatest failure is not that he was a bad husband or father but that he left no lasting impression on anything or anyone.

Just as he is feeling his lowest, Harold realizes he lost Dog. Frantically retracing his steps backward to Hexam, he finally spots the dog sitting with a girl at the bus stop and watches as the dog follows her onto the bus and leaves him. Harold tries to comfort himself by rationalizing that the dog was like any relationship that comes and goes, but he is deeply saddened at losing the companionship. The loss of Dog deepens his depression, and he ambles from town to town nearly delirious. When he breaks his glasses again and discards them, his vision is further distorted. His thoughts become scattered, and nature ceases to be a comfort as he contemplates the fragility of life. Reaching his breaking point physically and emotionally, Harold calls Maureen and confesses he cannot continue. After determining his location, Maureen encourages him to take time to rest and books him a room for the night. When Harold lies down to sleep, he realizes he lost Martina’s compass and spends the entire night sobbing. He phones Maureen the next day and begs her to come get him, but she tells him he is only 16 miles from Berwick and from Queenie, who is still alive. Harold returns to the road and sends postcards to Maureen each day that allow her to chart his progress, but she realizes he is rambling about in the wrong direction, sending him way off course. Rex and Maureen vow not to let Harold quit, but she is anxious about his condition and longs for him to return home.

The last few miles of the journey are painful; Harold’s leg injury returns, and he sinks into despondency. Plagued by nightmares both sleeping and waking, he remembers when he tore down the garden shed and the deep rift that developed between him and Maureen. The yachting shoes begin to split open, and he must repair them with duct tape.

After 87 days and 627 miles, Harold arrives at the hospice in Berwick. Just before entering, he thinks back over the entirety of his journey and wonders what will happen next. He can give Queenie the gifts. Beyond that, he feels the journey was pointless, and he fears the return to his previous life. Harold stops at a café for water and to tidy up in the facilities, but the waitresses assume he is a beggar and are unkind to him. Seeing a family with a new baby, Harold calls out, “I want my son” (281). The manager asks him where his son is and what is his name, but Harold cannot remember any of the answers. A customer recognizes him and tells him his journey inspired them to visit a long-lost friend, but Harold still cannot recall his son’s name. Abruptly leaving the café, Harold stumbles out into the street desperate to get home and find David.

Harold composes a letter to Girl in the Garage where he tells the story of David’s death. Twenty years ago, David died by suicide as a result of his addiction to alcohol and pills and his depression. He hanged himself in the gardening shed, and Harold found him. In the time afterward, Maureen closed herself off from the world and Harold, refusing to believe David was dead. Harold began drinking to excess. One night, in a drunken rage, he smashed the garden shed to pieces. On another night, he broke into the brewery and did something awful. Queenie took the blame and was fired. Harold explains that he is walking to Queenie “because she saved me, and I never said thank you” (286). He thanks Garage Girl for sharing about her faith and inspiring him to walk to Berwick and apologizes for not knowing her real name.

Maureen prepares for Harold’s return home by repainting their favorite room and cooking dishes she used to make before David’s death. Despite the surge of energy her preparations bring, Maureen still worries Harold will decide to leave again. The young girl from the garage appears at her door with the letter Harold sent. The garage became overrun with people after the news broke, and her boss fired her. After reading Harold’s letter, Maureen is overcome with emotion, and she confesses to the girl how cruel she was to Harold after David’s death. She refused to talk to Harold, talking to David’s spirit instead. The girl fears she misled Harold with her story because her aunt did not survive cancer. Maureen is struck by the harsh reality of the situation, but the girl’s honesty inspires her to reveal the truth about what happened with Queenie. After David’s death, Harold broke into the brewery in a drunken rage and smashed Napier’s crystal clown collection. Queenie came to their house with flowers and told Maureen to explain to Harold that she took the fall for him because he once showed her kindness; however, Maureen never told Harold. She resented their relationship and wanted Harold to continue suffering just like she was. Maureen is ashamed and says she understands why Harold walked out on her, but the girl comforts her and tells her everyone makes mistakes, and it is not too late to help Harold. She encourages Maureen to go support him in Berwick.

After washing up and shaving, Harold finally goes in to visit Queenie. A kind nun named Philomena guides him to her bedside, but Harold hardly recognizes the tiny figure under the covers. Queenie opens her eyes to see Harold but cannot speak. Soon he notices her face is disfigured by a tumor. Harold tries to show her the gifts he brought from the journey, but he feels at a loss as to how to speak to her in her diminished and frail state. It is obvious Queenie is suffering and in pain, and he calls out for a nurse to come help her. After pulling her up onto the pillows, the nurse leaves to get tea. Harold remains seated next to Queenie, quietly telling her about his journey. As he stares out at the garden adjacent to her room, Harold is transported back to the day he and Maureen went to view David’s body at the funeral home. Maureen wanted to take him gifts and go in to see him one last time, but Harold stayed outside and did not say goodbye. Maureen chastised him for not going in, and they began to drift apart. Back in the present, Harold realizes he traveled to see Queenie in hopes that by apologizing to her he could atone for his past mistakes. However, seeing that Queenie is so close to death, he understands there is nothing he can do to change the past or what is happening to his friend in the present. After hanging a crystal he brought in the window, he gently holds her hand and tells her it has been a long time since they first met. As Queenie falls asleep, Harold quietly leaves the room.

Maureen finds Harold sitting on a bench staring out at the ocean. She sits with him and asks how his meeting with Queenie went, but Harold only nods. When she asks if Queenie laughed when he arrived, Harold finally speaks and explains that Queenie cannot speak because she lost her tongue to cancer, and the tumor overtook her face. He regrets taking the journey, realizing it was all for nothing: “What difference was I ever going to make? How did I ever think I could stop a woman from dying?” (308). Harold breaks down crying over the injustice of Queenie’s suffering. Maureen holds him while he cries and tells her about all that he remembered during his journey. He fears he is losing his memory, but Maureen comforts him, explaining that he is just exhausted. Seeing Harold’s vulnerability and brokenness, Maureen falls in love with him all over again. She thinks about the rest of their life ahead of them and the inevitable pains of old age to come, but she vows to embrace the present and tells Harold they will take it one day at a time. Maureen proclaims Harold’s completed journey is a miracle, kisses him, and tells him she loves him.

Queenie briefly awakens and remembers Harold came to say goodbye. Her thoughts are blurry from pain and thirst, but she lacks the strength to call out to the nurse. She remembers she was once a vibrant person, but now her life is slipping away from her. Her last thought is a memory from her childhood when her father called to her, and she ran down the stairs. She thinks for a moment it is Harold calling to her, not her father. As the light reflected in the crystal showers the room, Queenie sees the light in her mind and hears the call of her father as she takes her last breath.

Maureen books a hotel room and tenderly helps Harold bathe, shave, trim his nails, and moisturize his skin. When the hospice calls with the news of Queenie’s death, she tells Harold she died peacefully, and they will go see her together. At the hospice, the nuns invite Harold to join them for mass, but Maureen declines, explaining that he needs his rest. Queenie’s body is laid out peacefully on the bed, and Maureen remembers seeing David in the coffin for the last time. She tells Harold there was nothing he could have done to stop Queenie’s death and apologizes for blaming him for David’s death. Harold stands silent in mourning over Queenie and all that he lost. Before leaving, they stop to listen to the nun’s singing. Harold and Maureen take a long walk near the beach and reminisce about many happy things from the past. They contemplate their small life amid the vastness of the larger world. Maureen says, “So many stories. So many people we don’t know […]” (317). Harold is ready to move forward, accepting that he cannot know the future. He is comforted that regret or guilt over the past will no longer haunt him. He remembers the night he met Maureen. He could never remember what he said to her that made them laugh so much. Suddenly, he begins laughing uncontrollably as he remembers it was what Maureen said that made them laugh. Neither can get out the words through their guffaws as they relish the shared knowledge of the simple words that brought them together so long ago. The couple stands together, looking out over the water in laughter.