July 26, 2019
Have you read well-loved author, Rachel Joyce?
The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy by Rachel Joyce
Genre/Categories: Contemporary Fiction, Women’s Fiction, Love Story
*This post contains Amazon affiliate links.
Summary:
If you’ve read The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce, you know that Harold has set out on a walking trip across England to visit his former coworker Queenie Hennessy who is dying from cancer. He tells her to wait for him and believes that his pilgrimage will help keep her alive. In The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy we hear Queenie’s story including all her secrets and relive the spirit of Harold’s pilgrimage from her perspective. This is not a prequel or a sequel; it is a companion to Harold’s story. When the two works are put together we are able to construct a complete picture of their lives.
Amazon Rating: 4.4 Stars
My Thoughts:
Auto Buy Author: If someone askes you about an auto-buy author, who would you name? Rachel Joyce is one of my auto-buy authors, and I love her memorable stories! She is a master of the character-driven novel with just enough plot to keep me engaged. This is the third of her books I’ve read, and although I have loved them all, if I had to rank them in order of preference they would stack up like this: The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry (full review here); The Music Shop (full review here); and The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy.
Companion Stories: Harold Fry and Queenie Hennessy are companion stories, NOT prequels or sequels. The two books can be read as stand-alones but are richer when read together. The Music Shop is a true stand-alone.
The Writing: Rachel Joyce writes exquisite prose and heartfelt and poignant stories with thought-provoking themes. While Harold Fry reads like an allegory, Queenie Hennessy is a first-person love story and confession. The Music Shop is also a love story. In each work, Rachel Joyce creates a memorable, unforgettable, and loveable cast of characters. I feel like Rachel Joyce particularly loves Queenie Hennessy and her story is told tenderly and with deep empathy for Queenie and all the residents of the hospice center.
Settings: Rachel Joyce uses vivid details to create unique settings. In Harold Fry we feel like we’ve walked the entire 600 miles across England with him; however, Queenie Hennessy is told in quiet first person and we’re confined to a bed in a hospice center. In The Music Shop, we are transported to a well-loved vinyl music shop in a rundown suburb of London.
Recommended. I wholeheartedly recommend these three Rachel Joyce stories for fans of beautifully written, character-driven stories. Queen Hennessy is recommended especially for readers who have loved and appreciated Harold Fry. If you’ve never read Rachel Joyce, I encourage you to give one of her books a try!
For more praise, please see Davida’s review of The Love Song of Queenie Hennessy.
And high praise from Nicki who recommends the audio book!
My Rating: 4 Stars
The Love Story of Miss Queenie Hennessy Information
Meet the Author, Rachel Joyce
Rachel Joyce is the author of the Sunday Times and international bestsellers The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry and Perfect. The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry was short-listed for the Commonwealth Book Prize and long-listed for the Man Booker Prize and has been translated into thirty-six languages. Joyce was awarded the Specsavers National Book Awards New Writer of the Year in 2012. She is also the author of the digital short story A Faraway Smell of Lemon and is the award-winning writer of more than thirty original afternoon plays and classic adaptations for BBC Radio 4. Rachel Joyce lives with her family in Gloucestershire.
QOTD!
Have you read Rachel Joyce?
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Looking Ahead:
Next week, I’ll have my July Wrap Up and my Two Year Blogiversary Post and Giveaway!
Posts You Might Have Missed:
My Best Reads of the Year So Far
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***Blogs posts may contain affiliate links. This means that at no extra cost to you, I can earn a small percentage of your purchase price.
Unless explicitly stated that they are free, all books that I review have been purchased by me or borrowed from the library.
Book Cover and author photo are credited to Amazon or an author’s (or publisher’s) website.
Glad you enjoyed this one Carol. 😀
I just remembered I was going to link your review of the audio book! I edited the post to include your link! Sorry about that When will I learn that I have to write all my brilliant ideas down?!?!?!
No worries 😂
I loved The Unlikely Pilgrimage! I need to read this one as well.
My heart still belongs to Harold but this was interesting! Thanks for commenting!
[…] Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry and The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy both Contemporary Fiction by Rachel Joyce (character-driven companion […]
[…] 4 Stars. A companion read to The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry (5 Stars). Full Review Here. […]
[…] Auto-Buy Author: Rachel Joyce is one of my favorite authors. Have you read The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry or The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy? […]
[…] Companion Reads: Harold and Queenie have a complicated relationship! (can be read as stand alones, but are best with Queenie as a companion read to Harold) My review of Harold Fry here and my review of Queenie Hennessy here. […]
[…] detailed and her characterizations are brilliant! (Harold from The Music Shop, Harold Fry and Queenie, for example!). She’s also a great story teller! If you read Miss Benson’s Beetle […]
[…] to add) Have you read The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy, or The Music Shop, or Miss Benson’s […]
[…] Although Maureen can be read as a stand-alone, it will make more sense and be a richer reading experience if you’ve read the first two (Harold and Queenie). […]
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