He and Maureen fell in love instantly and began a beautiful life together. After being sent away from home at 16, Harold began a new life, intent on leaving behind the sadness of his youth. He remembers his traumatic childhood: His mother abandoned him, and he was left to live with his alcoholic father. Despite her doubts and his lack of proper footwear, Harold sets off. When he calls Maureen to inform her, she says it is preposterous to walk over 600 miles with no prior planning. He phones the hospice to tell them he is walking from his home in Kingsbridge to Berwick and to tell Queenie to wait for him. Inspired, Harold decides to walk to Berwick to see Queenie he hopes knowing he is coming will keep her alive. On the way, he stops at a garage and shares Queenie’s story with the young attendant, who explains that having faith helped her aunt who had cancer. While walking to the mailbox to send her a reply, he realizes it will be delivered faster if he walks it directly to the post office. Not having spoken to Queenie in 20 years, Harold is stunned. Harold and Maureen Fry’s daily breakfast routine is interrupted by the delivery of a letter from an old friend of Harold’s: Queenie Hennessy, a former coworker, writes to inform Harold that she is dying of cancer and receiving hospice care in Berwick-on-Tweed.
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