I truly did not want this book to end. If you have read The Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, you will be familiar with Queenie. This book sits as a companion to The Pilgrimage, so whilst it’s not essential to read the latter first, you will probably get more out of it if you do.

Queenie is in a hospice in the last months of her life and she writes a letter to Harold Fry, who she hasn’t seen for 20 years. Harold then decides to walk the length of England to see her before she dies. So he asks her to “wait for him”. You may think that since the novel is set in a hospice, it would be horribly sad and dark. Some parts are, of course, heartbreaking. But the other characters in the hospice, the patients and the nuns, are so wonderfully full of life that you can’t help fall in love with them. They provide humour and offer a glimpse into what it’s like to live knowing you’re soon going to die. 

The book is largely written as one long letter, from Queenie to Harold, telling the story of how they met and how she became involved in his life in a way he had never known. She writes it, with the help of a nun, whilst waiting for Harold to reach her.

It is a story of two very ordinary people and the space between them. It is about unrequited, secret love, the glorious ordinariness of life, the friends we make along the way and, finally, the end of life. The book is written in a beautiful, moving, delightful way with snippets of comedy alongside the occasional heartache. 

One of my favourite quotes from the book is the following: “It is a hard thing, as I said, this learning to love. But it is an even harder thing, I think, to learn to be ordinary.”

I would highly recommend this book to anyone, and also The Pilgrimage of Harold Fry.