Book #40 – The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

Prompt – A book about a book club

Medium – Book

About the Book – It is just after the end of the Second World War, and Juliet Ashton is a thirty-two year old writer living in London. She has writer’s block and is looking for her next topic for a book, after writing light-hearted parodies through the war time. She is contacted by letter by Dawsey Adams, who lives in Guernsey and enters a letter correspondence with him and with the other members of the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, which was set up during the German Occupation. Through letters between Juliet and a number of her friends, the story of the society and a young woman called Elizabeth McKenna arises, and Juliet begins to fall in love with Guernsey and its people.

My Rating – 10/10. I started this book about 24 hours ago, and have just finished reading it. In my opinion, it is everything a book should be – both funny and incredibly touching. The book is written entirely in letter form, as well as in the form of a diary entry right at the end. Despite this, you really get to know the characters – including ones you don’t necessarily ‘meet’, like Sophie (Juliet’s best friend) and Elizabeth. The main character, Juliet, is both funny and extremely likeable and as many of the letters are by or to her, her character is one that the reader gets to know extremely well. That’s no bad thing as she is one of the most interesting and enjoyable characters that I have read about. Despite the fact that we never hear her voice, Elizabeth McKenna is also a prime character within the story, and one that seems to permeate the pages despite her absence.

The author also sets the scenes within the book beautifully – I desperately want to visit Guernsey now, just for the joy of walking in the places where Juliet did. The story overall is engrossing (hence the 24hrs read time!) and does not wallow in the terrible nature of the occupation, but instead adds humour and joy to even that most horrible of situations. That isn’t to say that the book isn’t respectful of what happened – you are never in any doubt that the author has done her research, talked to survivors, and cares deeply about what happened on the Channel Islands in WW2.

Would I read it again? Yes, definitely. It’s just a shame that the book needs to be returned as it is my mother’s!