The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
by Mary Ann Fiery Shaffer; Annie Barrows
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It is 1946, in the thick of World War II, when American writer Juliet Ashton becomes the sudden recipient of letters from the inhabitants of Guernsey, the small island in the English Channel that has fallen under Nazi control. The letter writers have formed the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society as a way to gather without attracting the attention of their occupiers. Out of these letters, Juliet comes to know the lives, loves, and hardships of a wonderfully eccentric and vivid cast of characters, and their charming philosophies and anecdotes help her resolve her own romantic conundrum. This warm, inspiring novel originated in the true life stories of Mary Ann Fiery Shaffer, who, upon learning of her terminal illness, contacted her niece Annie Barrows to help her finish the novel. Though Shaffer died in 2008, the year of the novel's publication, her memories of the hardships of war and the resilience of the people of Guernsey live on in this delightful book.
Editions of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
 |
ISBN |
Binding/Format Hardcover |
Publisher Dial Pr |
Date 2008 |
Price $9.00 |
 New |
Publisher Notes
In 1946, as England emerges from the shadow of World War II, writer Juliet Ashton finds inspiration for her next book in her correspondence with a native of Guernsey and his eccentric friends, who tell her about their island, the books they love, German occupation, and the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, a book club born as an alibi during German occupation. 75,000 first printing.
Media Reviews
"[A] book-lover's delight, an implicit and sometimes explicit paean to all things literary..."
Customer Reviews
on Jun 2 2009, killswan said:
"This novel is so cleverly constructed that it is easy to miss the fact that at its core it is a simple tale of romantic love and playing at love. English writer Juliet Ashton is in her early 30s at novel's beginning in January 1946. Three years earlier she had been engaged to marry serving officer Lieutenant Rob Dartry. She broke things off the day before the wedding. Three months later he was killed in Burma. We learn from a letter to her girlhood chum, now her publisher, the reason for the breakup: Rob thought too much of himself. The afternoon before the wedding day, Rob was busily moving his things into her flat. Juliet returned from delivering an installment of her famed Izzy Bickerstaff humorous wartime series to the printer, only to find that Rob had removed and boxed for basement storage all her books. He had replaced them on her shelves with his athletic trophies and memorabilia. End of engagement. *** Later we are misdirected for a while to think that Juliet might have a crush on ten-years older Sidney, her publisher and mentor; but no, he is revealed as an unconcealed homosexual, so known to everyone. No romance there. *** Juliet is then pursued relentlessly by a narcissistic American entrepreneur, Markham V. Reynolds. All he wants is a trophy wife and that Juliet will not be. *** Meanwhile she has made a new lot of friends on the island of Guernsey off the coast of France. In the end a little half-English, half-German orphan girl wins her maternal heart while taciturn, Charles Lamb-admiring pig farmer Dawsey Adams improbably wins over Juliet's erotic side. The book's last words are spoken to Juliet by Guernsey's most priggish female censor of female morals: "I hear you and that pig-farmer are going to regularize your connection. Praise the Lord!" *** Though I personally think the amours of Julie Ashton are what drive the novel, most critics see things differently. And I have written nothing here to spoil those other views of the plot. Beyond 90% of the yarn remains therefore for you to discover and enjoy for yourself. -OOO-"
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