Book Genre: Adventure, British Literature, Contemporary, Fiction, Literary Fiction, Mental Health, Novella Maureen Fry is an emotionally damaged woman who is grieving for David, her son who died many years earlier. The third book of the Harold Fry trilogy revolves around Maureen, Harold's wife. The trilogy started when Harold went on a pilgrimage to visit his friend, Queenie, in a hospice. Years earlier, Queenie had made a memorial garden by the sea using found objects washed up by the ocean in combination with greenery and flowers. One part of the garden was dedicated to David Fry because Queenie regretted that she was unable to help the young man who committed suicide.

Profoundly moving and deeply human, this story of self-discovery and forgiveness is essential reading. I loved every word.' Bonnie Garmus The Porter and the Three Ladies by Rachel Joyce: It is time for Shahrazad to tell another tale to save her life. In this story within a story, we find out that if Joe doesn't find the exclusive to satisfy his ruthless editor, he will lose his job. He finds three beautiful women in Damascus but what is the truth behind their secret life? This book is set ten years after the events in the first two books. Maureen has discovered, from one of Harold's former walking partners, that Queenie Hennessey had made a sea garden in the dunes near her former home, which was now called The Garden of Relics. Part of this garden is a shrine to Harold and Maureen's son, David, who had committed suicide thirty years before at the age of 20 - and Maureen is determined to visit the garden to see this shrine. So, with Harold's support, she sets off to drive to Northumberland to visit Queenie's garden, which turns into another journey of self-discovery, this time on Maureen's part.... The place was a hovel. She could try as hard as she liked to be nice but there was no nice way of saying it. This was a poignant, lovely read, filled with compassion, a story of both growth and healing with a perfect ending.

Maureen Fry is an unlikely heroine – outspoken and sometimes abrasive, it takes time for readers to warm up to her. As we have seen her through the previous two books, ‘The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry’ and “The Love Song of Queenie Hennessy’ she begins as quite an unlikeable character. But, as she embarks on her own journey of self-discovery, we come to know her better and start to appreciate all that she has been through over the years. Her journey starts when she receives an unexpected message from the North asking for help; driven by curiosity, Maureen sets off on a quest that takes her across some familiar places as well as some new ones – all while struggling with her own inner demons. Profoundly moving and deeply human, this story of self-discovery and forgiveness is essential reading. I loved every word. Bonnie Garmus Rachel Joyce has a genius for creating the most damaged and difficult character and making us care deeply about their redemption. Maureen Fry and the Angel of the Northis a powerful finale to her classic trilogy of heartbreak and healing.’ Clare Chambers This time we have the story from Maureen’s point of view years after Harold and Queenie’s stories. Maureen is a difficult character to like but through this book I came to understand her more. Maureen has a journey of her own to undertake, both physically and mentally, to process her grief. Rachel's books have been translated into thirty-six languages. The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry was shortlisted for the Commonwealth Book prize and longlisted for the Man Booker Prize. Rachel was awarded the Specsavers National Book Awards 'New Writer of the Year' in December 2012 and shortlisted for the 'UK Author of the Year' 2014.

After retirement, Queenie had settled in a small home in northern England. She liked gardening and poured all of her energies into forming a beautiful garden. After Queenie's death, it became a community memorial garden bearing homage to people's loved ones. Maureen is interested in visiting it to see a driftwood marker dedicated to David, Maureen and Harold's son. Maureen has never forgiven herself that she did not see how deeply troubled David was before he took his own life. She makes a journey by car to northern England to visit Queenie's garden which is now maintained by volunteers, and has no idea of how she will react emotionally. Maureen is a difficult woman who always found it challenging to relate to other people, but her journey is one of forgiveness and hope for the future. The book is the story of Maureen's journey there and how it affects her. When Maureen sees the memorial that Queenie had fashioned for David, she is overcome (at first, with anger). Here are her thoughts: The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy tells Queenie's story of her days in hospice. Queenie knows Harold is on his way to visit her and realizes she must confront the past she left behind twenty years ago. She writes a poignant letter to Harold while he walks to deliver his letter to her.If you’ve read ’The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry you will appreciate the growth in their relationship, and their own personal growth, as well. Maureen is not typically open to conversations with strangers, she barely is comfortable with those she knows and there aren’t that many of those. She has had heartbreaking loss and it has taken its toll on her, and those around her. She has been unable, afraid to truly face that loss. And so she decides it is her turn to take a journey, a journey that ends up being fraught with frustrations, fear and pain, but also a sense of gratitude for the opportunity to say goodbye. But a FEW books, stay in our hearts, and become the ones you recommend over and over again, no matter how many years have passed. That had been the case with the first two books in this series: “The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry” and (especially) “The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy”.

When Maureen sets out on her journey, she doesn't realise that she's going to find her true self, but ultimately that is what she does. Maureen was not an easy person. She knew this. She was not an easy person to like and she wasn’t good at making friends. She had once joined a book club but she objected to the things they read, and gave up. There was always someone between her and everyone else and that was her son. This year he would have turned fifty.” 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.

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Rachel Joyce is deeply attuned to the complex rhythms of life and love and she sublimates this understanding, sentence by delicate, powerful, glistening sentence into an unforgettable story. It's beautiful all through, but the closing chapters are just astonishing, transcendent and hope-filled and life-affirming. I'll never forget this wonderful novel or the sunny, slightly teary day I spent reading it. Donal Ryan This fascinating compendium traces phobias and manias through their rich social, cultural and medical history. We learn that in the US, a third of all people with phobias suffer from a terror of cats (ailurophobia) or dogs (cynophobia). As well as well-known behaviours, Summerscale highlights less obvious fears such as hippophobia (fear of horses, made famous in Freud’s “Little Hans” case study) and coulrophobia (a morbid fear of clowns). The Fell I read A LOT of books, so a few weeks after I finish one, I am often forgetting the details of story.