The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie BarrowsRecommend: Yes
To whom: Everyone
Why: This book has everything going for it: humor, delightful characters, a fascinating (true!) historical backdrop, and an unusual narrative style - the novel is crafted as a series of letters and correspondences between characters.
I am at last reading The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. I have recommended the book to many customers, and it is my responsibility (and pleasure) to at last read Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows’ delightful novel. Eighty pages in, I can see I have made no mistake with my recommendation. This book is hilarious, clever, touching, and informative.
The protagonist, Juliet Ashton, is a London writer who found success writing a column during World War II under the pseudonym Izzy Bickerstaff. Her latest assignment is to write a story about the effects of reading on people’s lives. She finds a perfect subject for her article, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, when she receives a letter from earnest Dawsey Adams, who lives on Guernsey, one of the Channel Islands. He has contacted Miss Ashton because he owns a book by Charles Lamb that has her name and address inscribed inside the front cover. He wants to know if there are more books by Lamb to be found in London, since books have been scarce on the island since the Germans occupied Guernsey during the war. Dawsey discovered his love of reading after his neighbor, Elizabeth, dreamed up The Guernsey Literary Society as an alibi when German soldiers caught them breaking curfew one night after enjoying a forbidden roast pig dinner at Mrs. Maugery’s home. As a result, the residents of St. Martin’s parish had no choice but to start reading and to hold regular meetings.
I did not make a blind recommendation of this book. I’d heard testimonials on KQED’s Forum and my mom raved about it. It intrigued me because I heard that the book is a compilation of letters between characters. I am particularly enjoying it because before she was a writer, Juliet worked in bookshops. She reminisces about this time while visiting bookshops around England on tour for her book, Izzy Bickerstaff Goes to War:
The protagonist, Juliet Ashton, is a London writer who found success writing a column during World War II under the pseudonym Izzy Bickerstaff. Her latest assignment is to write a story about the effects of reading on people’s lives. She finds a perfect subject for her article, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, when she receives a letter from earnest Dawsey Adams, who lives on Guernsey, one of the Channel Islands. He has contacted Miss Ashton because he owns a book by Charles Lamb that has her name and address inscribed inside the front cover. He wants to know if there are more books by Lamb to be found in London, since books have been scarce on the island since the Germans occupied Guernsey during the war. Dawsey discovered his love of reading after his neighbor, Elizabeth, dreamed up The Guernsey Literary Society as an alibi when German soldiers caught them breaking curfew one night after enjoying a forbidden roast pig dinner at Mrs. Maugery’s home. As a result, the residents of St. Martin’s parish had no choice but to start reading and to hold regular meetings.
I did not make a blind recommendation of this book. I’d heard testimonials on KQED’s Forum and my mom raved about it. It intrigued me because I heard that the book is a compilation of letters between characters. I am particularly enjoying it because before she was a writer, Juliet worked in bookshops. She reminisces about this time while visiting bookshops around England on tour for her book, Izzy Bickerstaff Goes to War:
“I love seeing the bookshops and meeting the booksellers – booksellers really are a special breed. No one in their right mind would take up clerking in a bookstore for the salary, and no one in his right mind would want to own one – the margin of profit is too small. So, it has to be a love of readers and reading that makes them do it – along with first dibs on the new books.” (p. 15)
Oh how I can relate, but this is a delight for anybody who loves to read. It allows the reader an inside look at the intimate correspondences between a writer and her publisher, close friends, and new friends on Guernsey. I am shocked along with Juliet as she learns about the terrible conditions imposed on the Guernsey residents by the Germans. I am eager to see how her relationships develop with Dawsey and his fellow society members.
Oh how I can relate, but this is a delight for anybody who loves to read. It allows the reader an inside look at the intimate correspondences between a writer and her publisher, close friends, and new friends on Guernsey. I am shocked along with Juliet as she learns about the terrible conditions imposed on the Guernsey residents by the Germans. I am eager to see how her relationships develop with Dawsey and his fellow society members.
Since I recommended this book before I ever had it in my hands, I can certainly get away with recommending it now, while in the process of reading.
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