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1. Why does the story that the garage girl
tells Harold affect him so deeply? Do you think Harold would have mused
on faith and gone on this tremendous journey had the garage girl told
Harold that her aunt died of cancer anyway?
2. How does Maureen’s relationship with Rex allow her the perspective to
understand Harold’s decision to walk?
3. The publicity that Harold receives on his journey often feels like a
curse. What are some benefits that come out of the media coverage?
4. What does Harold’s choice to live off the land and other people’s
kindness mean to him?
5. In what ways is the incident at the beach with his son representative
of Harold’s fears about himself? In what ways do those fears reflect the
reality?
6. "He had not said goodbye to his son. Maureen had; but Harold had not.
There would always be this difference." Do you think anything would have
been different for Harold had he had the moment of closure with David’s
body at the funeral home? How did this difference manifest over the
years?
7. How might things have been different for Harold and Maureen if she
had told him about Queenie’s visit to the house in which she explained
why she took the blame? Maureen thinks her withholding of this
information caused years of irreversible damage. How might Harold have
been affected if he’d known any sooner that Queenie didn’t blame him at
all?
8. What state did you think Queenie would be in when Harold reached the
end of his journey? Were you surprised by their interaction once he got
there? How do you think that scene might have been changed if Harold had
arrived any sooner?
9. Think about all the people Harold met along the way—the garage girl,
the barkeep, the woman with the apples and water, Martina, Wilf. Had
Harold not met even one of them, might his journey have diverged,
stalled, or even ended before he reached Queenie?
10. Where would Harold be today if he hadn’t made his pilgrimage? What
would the state of his relationship with Maureen be? How would news of
Queenie’s death have affected him? What would his life look like?
11. Does Harold’s journey feel secularly or religiously spiritual to
you? Does it change over time? How does his idea of faith fit with your
own beliefs?
12. What would it take to get you to make an extraordinary journey? Is
there anyone or anything that could compel you to walk six hundred
miles? What would such a journey mean to you?
13. The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry has become an
international bestseller. Readers from Taiwan, Germany, England,
Australia, the United States, Italy, South Africa, and many other
countries have embraced the novel. What do you think accounts for Harold
reaching the hearts of so many people from all over the world?
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