The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows

This book was first reviewed on this site on Monday, October 6th, 2008. Please visit our archives to read Elizabeth's review.

I am reviewing it again as it was the chosen title for the Abingdon Book Discussion group in March. It has also featured at other branches, and I am sure a lot of non-library groups have been reading it. Why has this book with the unusual title become so popular? It is written as a series of letters, and although this style might be a little awkward for some readers at first, keep reading. Once you get into the flow of the letters, this is a charming, sometimes moving and always entertaining story. It is set against the background of second world war Guernsey, where a group of friends forms a book group to explain to the German occupiers why they are out afer curfew. Once the book group is formed, the friends find the strength & support there that helps them endure wartime conditions. There are some wonderful characters. Juliet is the English writer who contacts the islanders & receives their letters. Dorsey, Amelia, Isola and the other members of the group reveal themselves and their lives to Juliet as they write to her. And there is Elizabeth, the pivotal force whose spirit shines through all the letters. We get to know these characters and others who reflect the hope and tragedy of this period. Try this informative and optimistic book and you won't be disappointed.

We were all very sad to learn that Mary Ann Shaffer passed away as this book was reaching its conclusion. We wonder what else she might have written had she lived longer. This book is a great memorial to her.

If you are interested in reading the thoughts of someone who was actually a child in Guernsey at the time of the occupation, please go to this BBC website.
WW2 People's War: An Archive of World War Two Memories - written by the public, gathered by the BBC. A Child's War: The German Occupation of Guernsey submitted by Peter LePrevost. http://www.bbc.co.uk/ww2peopleswar/stories/78/a4185678.shtml

Check out these links for reviews of the book, author biographies and book group questions.
http://www.guernseyliterary.com/bkBook.html
http://www.randomhouse.com/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780385340991&view=rg
http://www.bookreporter.com/reviews2/9780385340991.asp
http://www.bookbrowse.com/biographies/index.cfm?author_number=1586
http://www.bookbrowse.com/reading_guides/detail/index.cfm?book_number=2155

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, a Novel by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows

Having lost nearly a whole night's sleep to this unusual and delightful book, I feel compelled to add my own voice to all the others praising The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society. Find this book in our catalog.

This is a book worth reading, if only to find out about the strange and quirky title. Guernsey is an island in the English Channel occupied by the Nazis in 1940 and only abandonned by the defeated occupiers at the end of the war. The Society began as a fiction invented to cover the illicit activities of a group of islanders after curfew. They were caught going home after a party at which an illegal pig was shared out and consumed. Being caught keeping back a pig from the Nazi war machine would have meant transportation to a labor camp. Having invented the existence of the Society, the friends thought they had better for appearances' sake go through with the whole thing properly. They stripped the closed used book shop and began to hold monthly meetings, at which they shared what they had been reading. Thus were old friendships cemented and new ones begun.

One of the main delights of the book is the unfolding for us of all the friendships. The entire book is written as a collection of letters from all these people. I thought the device was very succesful in getting the reader under the skin of the characters. I really began to feel I knew them, and I was sorry when I had to leave them at the end of the book. You will see what you think.

The first letters introduce us to Juliet, an author who has spent the war writing a Spectator column on wartime in London. She is looking for a subject for a new book, when she receives a letter from a member of the Guernsey Society who has found her address in a used book and who enlists her help to obtain a biography of Charles Lamb. Guernsey is still devastated by the occupation, communication has only just been reestablished, and the islanders are bereft of resources.

Juliet has been asked to do a series of columns on the joys of reading, so she asks for more letters from other members of the Society to give her some ideas. The letters she receives so intrigue Juliet that she decides to go to Guernsey to research a book on the occupation. When she gets there she finds a wonderful loving community and her life is changed forever.

The picture of life during the occupation of the island is fascinating and shocking. Lovers of historical fiction will really dig in to this story of a little-known aspect of WWII. Both sides of the conflict suffered tremendously in Guernsey. There are scenes of immense cruelty, and also of humor, kindness, and humanity on both sides.

There is an awful lot to savor in this book; however, I thought that it was mainly about the transformative power of reading. You might also like these other books with this theme:

The Uncommon Reader, a Novella by alan Bennett

The Jane Austen Book Club by Karen Joy Fowler