In the first, Harold Fry had set out to post a letter to his former co-worker, and friend Queenie, who has written to him to say “goodbye” after finding out that her illness is terminal. But, somehow, he gets it in his head that Queenie will stay alive, until she gets his reply, so he decides to hand deliver the note instead. He walks 627 miles to her bedside, becoming a bit of a local celebrity along the way. (4⭐️) Joyce treats the reader to a wealth of beautiful descriptive prose: “Maureen drove below snatches of sky where sunlight glinted on the road, steel blue, spun gold, as rich as the glances off a crow’s wing” and “Ahead, the skin of the sea heaved and waves rolled out of the dark” and “the kitchen was covered with Post-it notes, like small yellow alarm signals” are examples. It does feel like this series is complete now and I am glad to have read all three of these books. I think it is best to read all three in the series. I did like the first two quite a bit and just didn’t connect as much with Maureen. I do like this author, and I look forward to her next books! Set during the pandemic, although that is not the prevalent theme, it is a time when solitude is perhaps even more the norm, it seems the perfect time for Maureen to face the loss that has framed these last years. And so she goes on a journey to say goodbye. ABOUT 'MAUREEN FRY AND THE ANGEL OF THE NORTH': Ten years ago, Harold Fry set off on his epic journey on foot to save a friend. But the story doesn't end there. Now his wife, Maureen, has her own pilgrimage to make.

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 North is a powerful finale to her classic trilogy of heartbreak and healing. Clare Chambers, author of Small Pleasures Ten years ago, Harold Fry set off on his epic journey on foot to save a friend. But the story doesn't end there. Rachel Joyce has done it again! She rounds of the trilogy perfectly in this novella. It’s beautifully written, it brings not only the journey alive but you feel as if you are travelling with Maureen. She is a somewhat spiky cactus, she finds friendship hard, she takes offence all too easily and has the ability to say completely the wrong thing. At the start you definitely hold her at arms length but the powerful writing allows us to glimpse beneath her armour and so you grow to understand her and her pain and I end up liking her much better at the end. She meets some lovely characters, a big shout out for Kate who features in Harold Fry who is a warm, wonderful, caring individual. Maureen learns much from her. The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry is where this series begins telling Harold's story of walking 600+ miles to hand deliver a letter to Queenie Hennessy who's gravely ill and spending her final days in hospice. Harold believes if he delivers his letter, Queenie will live long enough to receive it.I loved both The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry and The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy from this series but the final one left me feeling very disappointed. I couldn’t connect to the main character, Maureen, at all and frankly, I was quite bored sometimes while reading this one. It was very repetitive in the fact that Maureen whines and complains and gets angry over and over again. Rachel Joyce usually writes about the ordinary in an extraordinary way but this one just fell flat. Maureen is the third book of Rachel Joyce’s Harold Fry trilogy. As such, it completes the story begun 10 years ago with The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by allowing his wife, Maureen, to venture into the world herself in search of answers or closure on problems that have been crushing her for years. She will drive, not walk, but she will also make a northward journey, encountering strangers and having no clue how to deal with them. She is not Harold. Along the way, we learn of her love for Harold but also of her biggest disappointments and her distrust of much of everything else in her life. Thanks you to Rachel Joyce, Dial Press, and NetGalley for this poignant story which has already published. Reduced by physical injury, Maureen has to accept the kindness and care Kate unstintingly gives. Captive in her disability, she connects with sweet little Maple, Kate’s granddaughter, and eventually, finally, Maureen comes to terms with her grief over David. Despite this she puts on her driving shoes, gathers her determination and sets off, in the darkness of January. Will she reach her final destination? What will she find on the way?

This was a short book and I was able to read it in a single sitting and it does not work as a stand-alone. If you’ve read the other two books you might be curious to read this one just to get some closure of some sort but other than that I cannot recommend it.The characters of the other books feature as well, and its lovely to catch up with Harold and Rex, their wonderful next-door neighbour, albeit quite briefly. I loved Harold and Rex’s love of the good old sandwich as well! I understand what the author was trying to do giving Maureen a voice to her grief at the loss of her son. While Harold walked during his journey Maureen chooses to drive and we are subjected to a lot of internal dialogue and not much interaction with others and what we do get is complaints and whining. I think that’s the biggest difference between these stories. It’s been ten years of her trying to avoid facing this grief for what it is, all those years she’s been trying to hold it all inside, trying to reconcile how this came to be, and hoping that with changes to their surroundings she would find some peace. She changes everything in the bedroom, thinking that maybe new paint and storing the things that used to be in that room would take the pain away, only to realize that it is empty of the things that tied her to him. Her son, their son.

It was difficult to read in places, but I liked the growth Maureen experienced in the novel. Unlike her husband Harold who made friends along the way in his journey, Maureen finds it difficult to be kind to people and bristles at interactions with others. Joyce treats the reader to a wealth of beautiful descriptive prose: “Maureen drove below snat

Rachel Joyce is so wise! She sees the 'essential loneliness of people' and digs into the causes of it. No matter what, they deserve respect. I am the richer for having read these books. Although readers may have pondered this question over the years, Rachel Joyce didn’t originally envision this as a trilogy although one reader told her years ago, that it absolutely was. Realizing that she really had not quite let go of the characters, she decided to finally let Maureen have a voice.