This provides the answer for readers of
[b:The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry|13227454|The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry (Harold Fry, #1)|Rachel Joyce|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1335816092l/13227454._SY75_.jpg|18156927] who wanted to know more about Queenie Hennessy, whose letter announcing her imminent death from cancer was the instigation of Harold's unlikely pilgrimage from Kingsbridge in Dorset to Berwick-upon-Tweed in the north. Unbeknown to Harold, he had been the love of Queenie's life and the story of her secret relationship with him and her entanglement with his son are mingled with life in the hospice where Queenie and fellow inmates stretch out their last days following the progress of Harold's pilgrimage. Reflecting the character of Queenie herself, it is a delicate story culminating in the final meeting, told from Harold's viewpoint in the earlier book, but seen here by Queenie herself as fulfilment and release:

"I pressed my fingers tight around yours and closed my eyes. I smiled. I hope you saw that. I smiled so deeply I was filled with it. Even inside my bones, I smiled. And then all I wanted was sleep. I was not frightened any more."

Rachel Joyce has an extraordinary ability to convey the intimacy of everyday lives and even succeeds in rendering meaningful the final days of a cluster of crusty old and sick people in a hospice. There is sadness here but at the same time appreciation of life, at the end Queenie sees:

"so many people going about their lives, millions of them, being ordinary, doing ordinary things that no one notices, that no one sings about, but there they are nevertheless, and they are filled with life."

It is a tribute to the author that she has sung long and well about such people and brought them to our notice.