The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
Authors: Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows
Pages: 290
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Book Description:
January 1946: London is emerging from the shadow of the Second World War, and writer Juliet Ashton is looking for her next book subject. Who could imagine that she would find it in a letter from a man she’s never met, a native of the island of Guernsey, who has come across her name written inside a book by Charles Lamb….
As Juliet and her new correspondent exchange letters, Juliet is drawn into the world of this man and his friends – and what a wonderfully eccentric world it is. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society – born as a spur-of-the-moment alibi when its members were discovered breaking curfew by the Germans occupying their island – boasts a charming, funny, deeply human cast of characters, from pig farmers to phrenologists, literature lovers all. Juliet begins a remarkable correspondence with the society’s members, learning about their island, their taste in books, and the impact the recent German occupation has had on their lives. Captivated by their stories, she sets sail for Guernsey, and what she finds will change her forever.
Written with warmth and humor as a series of letters, this novel is a celebration of the written word in all its guises and of finding connection in the most surprising ways.
Review:
While I don’t really care for reading stories written entirely in letters, after I got into the flow of this book, it works well. It’s nice to hear the stories of the community told in their own words and styles, although I did find it hard to keep a few of the characters straight when they were only written about every once in a while.
This is a heart-warming historical story covering the WWII occupation of the English Channel Islands by the Germans. You are faced with some of the horrors of WWII, but only as memories that people are telling afterward, not the immediate, so it is less suspenseful, but still tragic and heart-rending, while also managing to overall be an uplifting and sometimes funny story.
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