I read The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society thanks to a book lover I met at my new book club. She said that this was the best book she had ever read and that she would read it repeatedly from now on. Although I had come across the book in many places before, it had never caught my interest. Still, after talking about it at the club, I succumbed to my curiosity and immediately started reading. Let me say from the very beginning, it is good. But I won’t read it over and over again. And I’m sure I’ll forget about it soon. Do not expect a lot from this.
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society takes place in Guernsey after the Second World War. The Germans capture this island (belonging to England) in the war, and the British lose all contact with mainland England. The events of this five-year siege reach the readers thanks to a literature club and a curious author.
While Juliet is looking for a subject for her new book, she gets a letter. And this letter is from Guernsey. So, the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society and Juliet begin to correspond and share their stories. So the story begins. The lives of both the literary club and Juliet will change thanks to these letters.
It is a book with cute characters. In fact, it is impossible not to fall in love with some of them. Although it deals with a difficult subject, it gives people hope and avoids upsetting them. If you are looking for a light book to read, I recommend it; you might like it very much. Enjoy!
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
“I wonder how the book got to Guernsey? Perhaps there is some sort of secret homing instinct in books that brings them to their perfect readers.” 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.
Mary Ann Shaffer
Mary Ann Shaffer worked as an editor, a librarian, and in bookshops. Her life-long dream was to someday write her own book and publish it. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society was her first novel. Unfortunately, she became very ill with cancer and so she asked her niece, Annie Barrows, the author of the children’s series Ivy and Bean, as well as The Magic Half, to help her finish the book. Mary Ann Shaffer died in February 2008, a few months before her first novel was published.
Reading this book contributed to these challenges:
