The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows
Hennepin County Library audiobook 7 CDs
read by Paul Boehmer, Susan Duerden, Roselyn Landor, John Lee, and Juliet Mills
genre: Historical fiction

This was a re-read for me, as I enjoyed the story so much the first time I encountered it. The cast does a marvelous job of bringing the many characters to life. This is one I could own and enjoy over and over again.

Set in 1946, author Juliet Ashton is ready to start a new book and move past the war. Receiving a letter from a stranger on the island of Guernsey, she begins corresponding with members of the literary society. But this group of readers is like no other she has ever encountered! What a delightful story of books, reading, and people. It is an amazing and beautiful story.

 

<Above posted 11.17.2013. Below posted 2009.>

 

by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows (her niece)
hardcover, mine, 278 pages

I'll have to blog later. I'm running out of time! Excellent book. Swept me up.

Later:
Told entirely in letters, this story of a young woman dealing with post-WWII emotions captivated me. Juliet Ashton is the central character who is drawn to the island of Guernsey, which was occupied by German forces during the war. Just a lovely, lovely book! There were times I almost made a "cheat sheet" of all the different characters, but I read it quickly enough (on the beach in Naples, Florida) that I was able to keep it all straight. The romance, the history, the characters - all made it a delightful read! This is our CMSW book club title for March. I look forward to the discussion!

 

<This below added 6.2.2023.>

 

I love this story so much! I think it's a love letter to books and reading as much as it is a love story between Juliet and Dawsey or between many of the characters and the island itself.  I did a re-listen to the audio version on the Libby app. 

I recently made the connection between Izzy Bickerstaff (Juliet's nom de plume during the war) and the fictitious Mrs. Miniver of British WWII morale building.

I should go back and check my print copy, but I'm pretty sure that we only read letters TO Sophie (Sidney's sister and Juliet's dear friend) but none FROM her. Interesting.

I noticed some of the book / movie differences rather glaringly. The movie came out in 2018 and I've watched it twice. (I really like this story!) I thought it was pretty faithful to the book, but there are things that are quite different. (Like the crabby and self-righteous Adelaide Addison. In the movie, Juliet initially stays in her house and she has a different name - I think. I like the letters / book version better, even though she remains a completely awful person either way.)

It was driving me crazy when they mentioned the "Todt workers" throughout. I tried googling "toad workers" and "tote workers" with the book title and go nowhere. I'm glad I had my print copy to check! They were basically forced labor who the Nazis used to further their engineering projects. They starved and beat them and used them until they died. They were typically men and boys taken from conquered lands.