Reading good books ruins you for enjoying bad books.
Mary Ann Shaffer was born in Martinsburg, West Virginia, in 1934. Her career included libraries, bookstores (including the renowned Book Passage), and publishing, but her life-long dream was to “write a book that someone would like enough to publish.”
She became interested in Guernsey while visiting London in 1976. On a whim, she decided to fly to Guernsey but became stranded there when a thick fog descended and all boats and planes were forbidden to leave the island. As she waited for the fog to lift, warming herself by the heat of the hand-dryer in the men’s restroom, she read all of the limited number of books in the Guernsey airport bookstore, including Jersey Under the Jack-Boot. Thus began her fascination with the German Occupation of the Channel Islands off the coast of Normandy.
Many years later, when goaded by her book club to write a novel, Mary Ann naturally thought of Guernsey. She chose to write in the epistolary form because, “for some bizarre reason, I thought it would be easier.” Several years of work yielded The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, which was greeted with avid enthusiasm, first by her family, then by her writing group, and finally by publishers around the world. Sadly, Mary Ann’s health began to decline shortly thereafter, and she asked her niece, Annie Barrows (also an author of children’s books) to help her finish the novel. Though she did not live to see it, this dream has been realized.
As to the story line …
Juliet is an author and bibliophile in post WWII London, and she receives a letter from a man on the island of Guernsey, who bought an old book with her address in it. They begin corresponding, and Juliet learns of the Literary Society.
Forced to invent the book club to avoid being arrested by the Germans during the occupation of the island, a group of unlikely and eccentric people continue meeting to discuss books. They learn to love literature and the power it has to give hope and warmth, even in dire circumstances. As the protagonist notes, “perhaps there is some secret sort of homing instinct in books that brings them to their perfect readers.” Friendships with each member of the group arise through letters, and Juliet decides to write a book about the Society’s wartime experience. She eventually goes to Guernsey to meet them.
A sweet, charming, fast read, the entire book is written in letters, with 20 different voices. I particularly resonated with how the love of books and discussing them changed everyone’s life in the novel.
The book was also made into a movie which is available to see on Netflix. Disclaimer: it does have a happy ending that we can see all along, but the characters don’t.
The question then is often asked “how do you make a potato peel pie?” – and so here’s a link if you want try your hand at it https://tinyurl.com/potatopeelpierecipe.
If you want to then know more about the earlier history of the Channel Islands and more recently regarding the German occupation please click the links.
