A wonderful book – The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

Submitted by Hunter Xu on Sunday, 30 August 2009No Comment

Author: Mary Ann Shaffer
The book review:
What a wonderful book ! Having just finished this one, I am still smiling and thinking of the characters. I wasn’t that eager to read this lovely book. The title sounded silly and I’ve read a few other books that were told entirely in the form of notes or letters like this one and I wasn’t too impressed. And an aunt and her niece authoring a book together? I couldn’t imagine it. Yet, miraculously, the guernsey literary and potato peel pie society manages to offer wonderful well rounded characters, a genuine sense of historic time and geographic place, some real inspiring stories of courage under hardship during World War II and a sweet if rather predictable love story.

Juliet Ashton is an author looking for her next great idea, when she receives a letter from Dawsey Adams, who lives on Guernsey, about Charles Lamb, to whose works we was introduced through the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society. The Society came to be in an unusual fashion: one evening after curfew, on their way home, some of its members were stopped by German soldiers, and Elizabeth McKenna had to make something up on the spot.Juliet lives in a London that was decimated by war; her apartment by the Thames has been lost, as well as all of her books (as you can imagine, horrifying). But her career as a writer is going well, and she has a potential love interest: the handsome and rich Mark.

I wasn’t sure at first that I would like the letter format, but it worked really well for this story. The characters became very real and each spoke with their own voice. It also gives an excellent overall picture of how the islanders coped with the trials and tribulations of the occupation, including the delightful story of how the "Society" originated. A very entertaining read.

I hope this review makes you want to read this book. Oh, and a caveat, I think it’s mostly a book that will appeal to women but I could be wrong.

The book details: