Queenie Hennessy's letter to Harold Fry

The Letter's Legacy

The letter's consequences ripple far beyond Harold's own journey. It is the reason he meets Martina, who treats his blistered feet and gives him her partner's rucksack, a brass compass, and a roll of blue duct tape, kissing his cheek and saying, 'Go well, Harold.' It is the reason he sheds his possessions, donating his washing powder, his wind-up torch, his plasters and antiseptic cream, his comb, and his guide to Britain to strangers he meets along the way, keeping only the compass and rucksack because they are not his to give away. The letter transforms Harold from a retired man who has spent years sleeping alone in the spare room into a pilgrim who sleeps in barns and woodsheds, washes in public lavatories and streams, and walks through wind and weather, bound by his yachting shoes and his faith that Queenie will live as long as he walks. It is the letter that ultimately leads him to St Bernadine's Hospice, where he finally meets Queenie, and it is the letter that sets the stage for his reconciliation with Maureen, who has been waiting for him, and for the final farewell to the woman who wrote to say goodbye. The letter, which arrived as a surprise on an ordinary Tuesday, becomes the hinge on which the entire story of Harold Fry's pilgrimage turns.