The title, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Anne Shaffer and Annie Barrows, caught my attention right off. However, it took me quite a while to read it and I actually listened to it on audio CD. My library gave it to me before it was catalogued and it lay hidden on my desk until this week when I uncovered a pile of stuff! So feeling very guilty I put it into my car CD player and it has kept my attention ever since. I must hurry and get it back!!
The setting of the book is at the end of World War II and is a collection of letters between author Juliet Ashton and a variety of people in her life but most especially the members of the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society.
The setting of the book is at the end of World War II and is a collection of letters between author Juliet Ashton and a variety of people in her life but most especially the members of the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society.
While this is not typically the type of romance novel that I usually review and read this is a romance of a very different type. It is a love story that spans the generations and involves so many different people who love and support one another through very tough times. I admire the courage and bravery of these people.
If I ever knew I have long forgotten that England’s Channel Islands were occupied by the Germans from 1940-1945. The people who lived on the islands found life very changed under German Occupation. Food was very scarce. The Germans appropriated many of the animals and kept a strict inventory of those on the farms.
It was out of a secret pig roast that the Society was formed. It did however keep this group of islanders together and supportive of one another. One of the members of the society finds Juliet’s name one the flyleaf of a book and writes to her and thus begins this wonderful correspondence from both male and female members of the society to Juliet and from Juliet to them. As Juliet receives letter after letter and corresponds with the islanders she develops a strong desire to go to Guernsey and visit these friends and hopes to write a book about them.
I fell in love with these people and their stories and I felt as if I knew them as well as Juliet did. I am not usually a fan of books that are a collection of letters but the stories were so interesting and filled with humor, sadness, betrayal and love that I wanted to keep on driving so I could finish the book.
The audio is very well done and narrated by five different people so the listener gets used to certain voices for certain people and I found that fun and very good listening.
I could go on and on but I don’t want to give the story away but I highly recommend it. I gave the print copy to a friend and we are going to use it as a discussion topic. It was also Border’s Book of the Month Club in May.
It was out of a secret pig roast that the Society was formed. It did however keep this group of islanders together and supportive of one another. One of the members of the society finds Juliet’s name one the flyleaf of a book and writes to her and thus begins this wonderful correspondence from both male and female members of the society to Juliet and from Juliet to them. As Juliet receives letter after letter and corresponds with the islanders she develops a strong desire to go to Guernsey and visit these friends and hopes to write a book about them.
I fell in love with these people and their stories and I felt as if I knew them as well as Juliet did. I am not usually a fan of books that are a collection of letters but the stories were so interesting and filled with humor, sadness, betrayal and love that I wanted to keep on driving so I could finish the book.
The audio is very well done and narrated by five different people so the listener gets used to certain voices for certain people and I found that fun and very good listening.
I could go on and on but I don’t want to give the story away but I highly recommend it. I gave the print copy to a friend and we are going to use it as a discussion topic. It was also Border’s Book of the Month Club in May.
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