The Pilgrimage of Primrose Honeychurch
by Laura Jensen Walker
My Rating: 4 stars
Genre: Women’s Fiction
Age Category: Adult
Type of romance: no romance
Blurb:
From the author of Death of a Flying Nightingale comes the moving story of a solitary seventy-year-old curmudgeon embracing the connection of family and daring to follow her dreams.Primrose Honeychurch doesn’t really “get” people. Books, though, make perfect sense.
At seventy, the sharp-tongued recluse prefers to keep company with her own routines. But when a life-altering diagnosis leaves her worried she’ll never be missed, she decides it’s finally time to do something to leave her mark: something no one will ever forget.
Clutching her mother’s ashes and the book of her heart, Primrose hops on a plane, bound for Hay-on-Wye, the legendary Welsh “Town of Books.” Unfortunately, her literary pilgrimage just won’t follow the plot. After an accident derails her trip, she finds herself staying awhile with estranged family. But she senses a kindred spirit in the niece she’s getting to know, who uncannily understands the world much the same as Primrose herself does.
As rolling green hills and book-lined streets frame an unexpected season of discovery, what began as an unwelcome detour becomes something more profound. For the first time in her life, Primrose begins to glimpse the beauty—and courage—of true human connection.
My Review
I received a free copy from the publisher through Netgalley and voluntarily reviewed it.
This book caught my eye when I saw it on Netgalley and I liked the idea of reading a book about a seventy year old character finding out she’s neurodivergent. This was one of those books where after reading the blurb I had got some wrong expectations, I thought the diagnosis mentioned in the blurb was her neurodivergence diagnosis, but it is not. There is still her journey about discovering she’s neurodivergent, but there are also parts about her diagnosis and how that leads her to go to UK and deal with some things.
This book is a tough one to review and rate for me, because I think it’s a good book, but it also was hard to read at times. It made me feel and even cry at the end. I also think it’s not necessary a book I always enjoyed because of the hard and sad parts, but it certainly left an impact. It is well written and I liked the character development and seeing Primrose deal with everything on her path. The ending however is very sad, but also uplifting in a way. It deals with themes of what we leave behind after we’re gone as well as what you really want out of life and what’s important.
I also struggled with this book at times especially when it came to Primrose remembering her past as there is something just so deeply sad about this, probably because I could relate so much to the neurodivergent parts and not knowing that while growing up and always feeling weird. The parts that dealt with Primrose’s past and how she grew up where tough to read for me. I just felt so bad for Primrose that she had such a hard life with her abusive father and by the time her father died, her mother doesn’t have long to live anymore and now while Primrose is seventy year old she finally has to chance to really life and do what she wants and I just thought that was very sad. I did like she always had her books to escape in. It is also uplifting and hopeful with how Primrose finds family and a home in the UK and that was wodnerful, but I couldn’t quite shake the heaviness and deep sadness and that made it hard to fully enjoy this book.
Now having said all that I actually did mostly enjoy this book. I thought Primrose was very relatable, even though I didn’t always like her at first, she really came across as a curmudgeon at first. I liked getting to know her character more and I did understood why she acted the way she did. I liked seeing her find her family in the UK and connecting with them and especially her connection with her niece Clover was very well written. It was heartwarming to see how the Penrose family embraced her and welcomed her and how she really found a home there. I also liked the plot line about Primrose’s book Bentley a Peculiar Bear and how she was trying to find a home for the book and eventually ends up sharing the story with people. Her journey of finding out she’s neurodivergent was also interesting and I liked how that helped her understand herself more.
To summarize: This book really left an impact, it is well written interesting story about a seventy year old discovering she’s neurodivergent and finding her family in the UK while dealing with a recent diagnosis. This could be quite an emotional read at times and the ending made me cry. Primrose felt relatable with her neurodivergent traits and I liked seeing her find her out she’s neurodivergent. It did take me some time to fully warm up to her. There’s also something deeply sad to me about how Primrose lived most of her life with an abusive father and only now toward the end finds her place to belong. I liked the story of Primrose’s journey to the UK and the book city she wants to visit and connecting with her UK family while she’s there. I especially liked her connection with her niece Clover. The story about the book Primrose has written is great too. This book deals with topics of finding your way and family as well as what we leave behind after we’re gone. I am glad I read this book, but it was a tough one to read at times.
This does sound good, I’m glad you enjoyed it.
I am glad I read it, it’s certainly a memorable read.