The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry – Rachel Joyce

Rachel Joyce’s debut novel The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry is no doubted going to be one of those books that will be remembered in 2012 and also spoken about for a long time.

Newly retired, Harold Fry receives a letter one morning from Queenie, a woman he used to work with; she has written to say that she is nearing the end of her life. After much soul searching Harold drafts a reply and goes out after his breakfast to post the letter. However he gets to the first post box and rather than post the letter he keeps on walking onto the next, suddenly he finds himself making an unlikely journey by walking from his home in Devon to Queenie in Berwick on Tweed.

The book follows the journey, as he makes the decision to walk the distance in the hope of proving something to himself, saving someone and ultimately having a purpose in life. He walks with what he left his house in, on his feet are yachting shoes and this become a symbol for the journey as they cause him pain and heartache as the journey progresses. Along the way Harold meets a diverse mix of people who he treats as he finds and who treat him accordingly, all of them have stories to tell and as readers we are suddenly given a glimpse into someone else’s life; Martina the doctor from Slovakia waiting for the man who left her tends and heals Harold so his journey can continue.

One of the turning points in the story comes when others wish to join such a pilgrimage and it then becomes not about Harold’s journey to reach Queenie but everyone else walking, making a statement, making a journey. It was at this point that I felt the book was painful to read, these parasites on Harold’s journey caused him pain both physically and mentally and when they made Berwick on Tweed after Harold purposely loses them it is a relief as it goes back to Harold’s journey. This is not a criticism of the plot but it actually evoked sentiment about who the journey was about, those that made it to Berwick on Tweed were not important they wanted the glory and the coverage, which was not what Harold’s journey was all about. Joyce handles all of this with such emotional lyrical language you feel touched by everything and everyone that Harold comes into contact with.

Back at home Harold’s wife Maureen is going through her own journey without leaving the house. There is a rift between Harold and his wife and her obsessive cleaning and her obvious annoyance at anything Harold does, touches, says, does not do, acts has driven a very large wedge between them. Maureen seeks solace in talking to their son David, but Harold cannot see what this is ever going to achieve. As Harold continues, Maureen then starts to have to survive on her own, is it necessary to clean as such, will talking to David actually help her and bring back Harold or will personal changes she has to make be the only way to heal the rift that has grown into a chasm. As Berwick on Tweed is reached by Harold, everything changes and perhaps he is not an unlikely character as we all thought.

What I loved about this book was that as you started reading you knew nothing about the characters, (as is the norm with a book obviously) but even after fifty pages, there were still gaping holes in background knowledge that would make you understand why they were reacting as they were. This is what makes this book and the journey captivating as you want to know why they are reacting the way they are; what did Queenie do to help Harold all them years ago? Why will Harold not talk to David? So many questions are waiting to be answered, but as with all journeys many more are waiting to be discovered as well.

Rachel Joyce is the author of numerous afternoon plays for BBC Radio 4, and has created adaptations for radio and TV, including a feature-length adaptation of Dorothy Whipple’s Someone At A Distance. In 2007 she won the Tinniswood Award for Best Radio Play. She began writing after an award-winning, 20-year career in theatre and television, performing leading roles for the RSC, the National and the Royal Court.

For a debut novel this is very good, it is a book which I do not think I would have picked up but the cover and the title struck a chord with me. I think everyone is on a journey of sorts and perhaps they do not recognise or acknowledge it and for that I felt connected somehow to this book. 

I became infuriated with those that stuck to Harold for their own glory and it was a reflection of how the media can latch onto a story and miss the whole point of it, it was therefore emotional when Harold did reach his destination with no recognition other than his own which he doubted and Queenie’s who perhaps knew he had arrived the moment he had sent the letter to say he was coming and to maintain faith and more importantly strength until he arrived. 

Initially in the beginning once Harold’s journey was underway I was concerned that we were going to stop at every place with him, and meet a variety of different people and I thought that this was going to turn into some travelogue or tourist guide to the areas. It did not, as Harold’s momentum gained Joyce beautifully leads us to the relevant places and cleverly covered many miles with him and where he stopped without devoting chapters of what could have been mindless travel. 

Another simple but effective tool that Joyce uses in this book is the naming of her chapters for example, “Harold and the Letter”, “Harold and the Doctor”, “Harold and Queenie” they give you an insight into what is going to feature in these relatively short chapters that the becomes short stories within their own right in some cases. 

Finally I think I might make comment about the cover, plain and simple on the front, but the back and also included within is a lovely map of Britain charting Harold’s journey.

Thank you to Amazon Vine for giving me the opportunity to read this book. Published by Doubleday on 15 March 2012. Do let me know if you read this. 

Below Stairs – Margaret Powell

Before reading Margaret Powell’s book Below Stairs I think it is prudent to note that the book was first published in 1968. And although the same comments in reference to her looking back, e.g. ‘it would be different now’ still applies, some 30 years had only passed since these real life events had happened. If you pick up the book now you are reading these reflections then note it is some 70 years ago.

Powell gives us a VERY brief overview of life in Hove, as a small child in a poor working class family, where there was no money but plenty of warmth and connection with each other. Through to her progression out of that life as a kitchen maid and then cook, her obvious outward ambition.

However, there is no depth to any of the recollections and if anything is becomes merely a passage of how the servants were the underdogs by them “upstairs” and called “skivves” by their contemporaries. Powell was forthright in her opinion and manner and certainly did not like to think she was being treated badly. Ironically enough she seemed to always be suspicious when she was treated as more than a servant by at some of the houses she worked in.

This book is ideal for those who perhaps know nothing or very little about servants in early 20th century Britain. If like me you think you are going to get a more in depth insight into servants then you will be sadly disappointed.

Trying not to sound too cynical, I am sure, in fact I know this book was rereleased because of the UK (and further afield) sudden love for all things Downton Abbey – esque. In fact there is a flash (not sure of the correct technical term) on the front cover of the book claiming anyone who enjoyed it would like this book. 

To be honest and I know Downton Abbey is fictional and glamourised. I learnt more from that than this book. 

Although I have no doubt that Margaret Powell was a force to be reckoned with it was a shame not to learn more about tha numerous places she worked in more detail. I was not expecting any sort of “dishing the dirt” but as I mentioned in my review a bit more depth. She seemed to look down her nose at everyone regardless of who they were or how they featured in the social class structure. In fact she was fully aware that those above would have their own observations “…a good cook, but unfortunately she reads. Books, you know.”

Interestingly it was not written by Powell herself and she obviously had a large amount of help as we skit through her life. I found the same with a book I read last year (2011) My Lady’s Maid by Rosina Harrison, not enough substance for me.

I think I will be very wary of such books in the future and at least do my research before taking a peek behind the scenes of any sort of life. However, I remain fascinated by the “them and us” situations as I know in days gone past the job I do was very much a “them and us” in fact some days it still is!

Miracle on Regent Street – Ali Harris

This book has everything that is probably a girls’ dream. Evie Taylor is just the stockroom girl of the London store Hardy’s in fact she is no one to the majority of staff and managers there who refer to her as Sarah, the previous incumbent’s name. However with this anonymity Evie starts to do something magical for Hardy’s.

Hardy’s is a failing business, it is not making the profit, not drawing in the crowds and on the run up to Christmas has only 25 days to turn everything round. Otherwise the family run concern of nearly 100 years is going to sell out to an American company with a very different vision.

This heart warming tale of rescue, romance and remerchandising you could say and some do is very predictable but actually in fact the key to it is in the detail. Ali Harris has conjured something magical, the descriptions of the department store, the stock that Evie has kept knowing it might come on useful, the tea room at the bottom of the store with all the old photographs when Hardy’s was the place to be seen, the descriptions of the vintage clothes bring everything to life.

There are plenty of characters in this book, and although many are mentioned and do flit in and out, the main ones are Sam the delivery driver and the only person Evie sees most days at work, Felix the security guard who used to remember the good old days. Lily who still runs the tea room and has epitomised glamour despite being well past retirement age. Carly the personal shopper turned manager, has alienated everyone and believes the future is not held in the past. Joel the man who sweeps Evie off her feet and into another pretend world and then there are the members of Evie’s family.

Delilah her sister who she lodges with and is treated like a live in nanny, is having a crisis of her own but Evie suddenly does not know which way to turn she has all these items and cannot begin to organise them into any semblance of order which she thrives on. She needs a miracle but will one happen by Christmas Day? You are going to have to read and find out!

Can you tell I loved this book? It is a great Christmas read although I am sure could be enjoyed at any time of the year, reading it at Christmas gave it that special edge. 

Those who read this blog regularly know that I have a bit of a thing for books which big houses, schools and general institutions of sorts. A shop one that obviously pulls on every John Lewis store, Selfridges and the famous H. A. Rrods (Harrods of course dahling!) will see something in this book. Yes it had a touch of the ‘Are You Being Served?’ about it but then I loved that programme and would have liked nothing more to work in such a place. Next best thing read a good chunky book about something of a similar vein. 

If I was working their I would have been the stockroom girl, that nobody knew, hiding in the background and just making sure the place ticked over without anyone realising what is happening. In fact there are elements of my job now that I just do and are probably taken for granted and they have no idea how they get achieved – it is them pesky magical elves I am sure. I digress.

This is the debut novel by Ali Harris and I wait with anticipation in what she will achieve in her second novel and I hope it has the attention to detail, that she has drawn on from her previous incarnation working on fashion magazines, and the ilk to come up with another chunky Christmas read or just another chunky read to hook you right in and care about the characters. Such as Evie and Sam, but also to hate some like Carly, I am sorry I know she changed her ways by the end but to me she was still too false. Then the characters that you want to succeed Jane in lingerie and the lovely Polish cleaners.

This is one of them books that I can see being made into a film…… but in the meantime in the words of Young Mr Grace “You’ve all done very well”.

The Last Christmas Card

I was not very good this year and made hardly any cards (Christmas), however I did make and send one to the little girl of one of my neighbours. I had made her mum one for her birthday and she was enamoured with it, so thought it would be a nice little gift.

That was not my intention when I was finishing the back stitching, as it is meant to say ‘Merry Xmas’ but with a sudden flash of inspiration I changed it to her name. I hope she liked it.

All the Cross Stitching magazines out at this time of year say now is the time to start making the cards for next year, and perhaps I may well do when I feel like stitching something small. But I have got back into my stitching work which is called ‘The Library’. Checking back the last picture I showed you was in July 2011 (shock horror!) but I took it with me to my mum’s over Christmas for something to do on Christmas Eve and it has grown a bit more. I have picked it up since then as well but I am going to have to buy some more thread soon, as I have run out of some colours but want to make my order worthwhile, so going to keep going until I have exhausted the threads I do have left.

The Library - July 2011

And so for a more recent update

The Library - Dec 2011

Seeing the two pictures, makes me want to try and get it finished in 2012 at least! Although I might have to intersperse it with other knitting and the like, so much choice, so little time.

Baking and Eating

I had planned to show you a picture of the cake I made for my birthday back in November. As is the norm in many offices when it is your birthday you have to bring the cakes in. In being thrifty and homely I thought I would make one. Therefore resurrected the Chocolate Guinness Cake by Nigella although I do adapt it slightly and don’t make the cream cheese topping. No problem can be made the night before, which I did but as it was not cool and out of the tin by the time I went to bed I did not take a photo. When I got up it was dark, so still no good and then I got to work and simply there was no cake as it was devoured.

A few days later my boss asked if I would make another one for him, so he could take home because he had relatives visiting. He would just pay for the replacement ingredients. No problem, another opportunity to take a photo. But same as before – too dark and also I took the cake out the tin too soon and it started to crack, panic set in and the last thing I thought about was a photo.

The cake goes down very well, very well indeed and was enjoyed by all. Apparently days later with custard it tastes just as good?! Who knew?

But I have taken some photos of some recent bakes – Nigel Slater’s Chocolate Cookies, seen here in the photo with some other nice goodies for a little afternoon tea party I held.

The cookies are divine, really chocolatey and chewy in the middle. I might have to make these again and are great with fresh fruits such as raspberries and a bit of cream. Because I had scones, I had to buy jam and therefore I can see me having to make a Victoria Sponge at some point. The sausage rolls were shop bought, however I did brave the pastry world with another recipe from Lorraine Pascale.

To make one thing clear I did not make the pastry – it was shop bought ready rolled stuff and my first time with such a thing, so not bad even if I do say so myself to then brave Bacon and Mature Cheddar Straws

They could have cooked for a bit longer and because I had no actual mustard and only mustard powder they could have been a bit more mustardy and with more cheese (although I did use my 50% cheese thinking that might negate the other calories in the pastry!) They did taste yum, and I will do them again, if only to perfect them slightly. I did chill them before cooking them – and I can see that makes all the difference.

So with my time off I was quite productive in trying out something new and something tried and trusted. Santa very kindly bought me a soup maker 

All you do is chop the ingredients fling it in with the stock and set it to make smooth or chunky soup. It does it all for you. In the jug there, my first attempt at using the machine which is like a kettle boiling and then all of a sudden a quick blending which it repeats until this alarm goes off and tells you it is ready. You could eat it straight away as it is hot. I was somewhat dubious but yes it was hot! However, I just stocked up my freezer and saved some for the following day, in the jug is Carrot and Ginger Soup. Going to try tomato next. It kind of cuts out the middle man or ‘pan’ if you will, but I am sure I will still use that to make some soups and get my blender out as well as I hate having appliances and them not being used.

Beatrice goes to Brighton – M.C. Beaton

In the fourth of the Travelling Matchmaker series of books, Miss Hannah Pym, now no longer a housekeeper but a gentlewoman of means seems rather tired of her previous matchmaking journeys. In fact it seems rather a quiet journey for Hannah but then someone comes to take one of the female passengers off the travelling stage, Beatrice of the title of the novel , in rather odd circumstances was she kidnapped or did she willingly go with the man not much happens Hannah ponders? Then Hannah gets left behind and is rescued by Lord Munro.

However things do not quieten down when Hannah gets to Brighton, with her footman Benjamin. Who has suddenly found his voice and is rather forthright in his opinions and does not understand the appropriate etiquette for a footman. Then through strange and dubious means establishes his mistress in a suitable dwelling and provides for her when Lord Munro promises to honour his pledge to take her to the ball where the Prince of Wales will be in attendance. Brighton society is suspicious of Miss Hannah Pym, her position and background and so visitors are a plenty including Beatrice with her problems. As society does what it does best and snubs Hannah, she can only see the way out. And that is to do a bit of matchmaking for Beatrice and get her out of the position she has got herself into and at the same time solve Hannah’s own problems.

These are short stories which are a great bit of escapism, with a little bit of romance, a bit of excitement and a bit of history. In this book we learn with Hannah all about bathing machines and the joy of being free from your ‘stays’ although the freedom is short lived as adventure awaits Hannah as her next trips is to Dover.

The cynic in me realises that these other novels by M.C. Beaton have been reissued to cash in on the success of Agatha Raisin and Hamish Macbeth. The cynic in me also realises that I have succumbed to that marketing as well. I have the other two to read to complete this set and then I suppose I can succumb to more cynicism and read the reissues of the Edwardian Murder Mystery Series which were originally with the Matchmaker series published under one pseudonym Marion Chesney. Also from her website, The Six Sisters looks to have been republished with new covers and released in 2012. More series to get involved in. 

Challenges

New Year, new start, new resolutions and new challenges. To be honest I am not one for making resolutions, as I think these can be made at any point in the year not just at the beginning of it. Plus there is the obvious wait as those around you who know that you have made a resolution wait to see you fall flat on your face!

I do know I want to do something different this year, something out of my comfort zone – but as of yet I do not know what it is and well I do not have to make up mind now do I? If anyone has any ideas or thoughts I would love to hear from them. Nothing dangerous to my health or others and nothing illegal!

There is always plenty of reading challenges doing the rounds and I have been reading about lots that many blogs I visit are starting for 2012.  This blog here  is a great start if you want to get involved, it seems to have something for everyone. I am so tempted by lots and lots of them, but I know with reading if I put myself under undue pressure nothing will happen and I will do my best to avoid reading for these challenges. However, they have given me an idea of my own and so I decided to set my own challenges. Without further ado….

Reading Challenges

The three Standard Challenges that I have every year is

1. Read 50 books in the year
2. Do not buy any more books
3. Review every book I read

However, I thought I would perhaps expand this a bit and go for a few more.

New Challenges

The rules are simple for the first 5, read 1 book by that author.

Read 1 Charlotte Bronte Novel

Currently on Jane Eyre and have about 80 pages left and I know I started it in 2011, but I knew I was never going to finish it before the end of year.

Read 1 Charles Dickens novel

Not sure what book to choose here, so might leave that one up to fate. In addition thought with this one, as I live in Portsmouth and never been I am also going to visit Charles Dickens Birthplace at some point between 28 January and 4 November, if I can tie this in with the first Sunday of the month apparently they do some readings as well.

Read 1 Daphne du Maurier Novel

At the moment, I am thinking My Cousin Rachel, simply because I picked it up after having read Jamaica Inn last year and it is still on the shelf unread.

Read 1 Jane Austen Novel

Mansfield Park is the choice here. I already had downloaded this on my kindle after reading Persuasion last year, and then the delightful Rachel on Book Snob had a bit of luck getting hold of a rather beautiful copy, to read and well it would be rude not to join in!

Along with this one, is the fact that I won tickets to the Jane Austen House museum and need to go and experience all things Austenesque before the 31 August.

Read 1 Georgette Heyer Novel

I have never read any by this author and have seen lots and lots on the blogs I visit about her, so I knew that I must at least try one. Any recommendations?

Unfinished Books

I currently have a few unfinished books, they are currently unfinished because I have been struggling with them.

Little Women – Louisa May Alcott I am just finding this quite a difficult read.

The Crimson, Petal and the White – Michael Faber This is a long book, and whilst it is good other books kept getting in the way. 

Wedlock – Wendy Moore I think I need to restart this one completely so I can enjoy it properly. 

I would like to finish 1 of these this year.

Series Challenge

Looking back on 2011 I have picked 3 authors whose series of books I am currently reading and would like to read 3 more in the current series I am reading.

1. M.C. Beaton – Agatha Raisin
2. Carola Dunn – Daisy Dalrymple
3. Debbie Macomber – Cedar Cove Series

I am going to copy this onto a tab at the top of my blog, so I and anyone else can keep a track on them. That way I can also add in more challenges throughout the year as they come to mind, or as some really tempt me.

What sort of challenges are you doing for 2012? Any I might have missed out on?