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

Hardcover: 288 pages
Publisher: Dial Press
Release Date: July 28th, 2008
Source: My bookshelf – I received this book as a gift.

To both my delight and dismay, this book was a very quick read. It was one of those stories I just didn’t want to end. I was so impressed by how the authors managed to successfully tread the delicate line of telling a story about hardship, yet maintaining an overall upbeat, even humorous, tone throughout the book.

After WWII, London journalist Juliet Ashton begins exchanging letters with residents of Guernsey, Channel Islands. She learns of their individual experiences under the German Occupation of the Islands during the war. She discovers the collective story of a war-torn people who are just trying to get by, and who learn to once again appreciate the simple pleasures in life.

This is a book about WWII that still possesses an optimistic quality, expressed through the vivacity of its characters. The eclectic cast of friends includes a pig farmer, an aristocratic lady, a fisherman, a servant to a Lord, and a farm girl, all struggling together during the Occupation, trying to find joy out of life during hard times. Although there are heartrending war stories scattered throughout the novel, the endearing nature of these very real characters immediately picks the story back up the moment it begins to take a melancholy turn. Juliet, our quick-witted protagonist, provides ample comic relief: I would often find myself snickering out loud over Juliet’s constant flow of facetious comments and observations about the world around her. The book begs the question, “when is it okay to laugh again?” exploring the paradoxical struggle faced by survivors of tragedy…how to move on after one has experienced something as horrific as WWII upon your country’s doorstep.

The repartee among the characters is endlessly amusing, and I just loved the epistolary format. I enjoy novels that let you read from all different points of view; and in this book, it really allowed me to get a feel for each character’s personality. I’m giving The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society a rating of 5/6 Wives of Henry VIII, the one issue I take with this book being its somewhat rushed conclusion. The entire book flowed so beautifully up until the ending, where it just seemed like the author was trying to wrap things up. It leaves you with a strong idea of where the story is going, but after getting to know the characters in such a lengthly, charming way, I would have preferred a more concrete, detailed ending. Perhaps an epilogue would have helped ease the unresolved sense I had after it was finished. All in all, a fantastic novel I highly recommend.

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