Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

Novel by Mary Ann Shaffer & Annie Barrows – Book Review

Sep 11, 2009

The story of a London writer who's written correspondence with members of the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society changes their lives as well as her own.

Juliet Ashton is a writer famous for her funny newspaper columns written during World War II under the pen name of Izzy Bickerstaff. When the war and Juliet’s book tours are over, she is stuck as to what to write next.

After she has put the rest her alter ego Izzy Bickerstaff, writer Juliet Ashton is stuck over what to write about. Then she receives a letter from a man named Dawsey Adams from the channel Island of Guernsey. He has acquired a book that once belonged to Juliet and tracked her down using the old address she had written under the book's cover.

Dawsey is a member of the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society and he and Juliet begin writing to each other. Soon other members of the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society start to write to Juliet and she suddenly has an idea for a book.

She is going to write about the stories of the Guernsey residents during the war and the German occupation of the island. When Juliet travels to Guernsey to meet the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society who she now considers to be friends, she changes her life forever.

While The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society is an interesting story, it is very slow to start and the entire book is written in letter form. Letters to and from protagonist Juliet to and from her agent, her friend, her publicists and the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society members.

Some readers will find this tedious and the book only gets really interesting approximately halfway through. By then the characters are well established and they tell their stories of life in Guernsey during the German occupation of the island during World War II.

Characters are well written and very likable, however, much of the book was predictable. Predictability needn’t mean a book is un-enjoyable or unreadable, and this book was pleasant to read, however, readers will find the ending to be disappointing.

The main problem with this book is that because it is written entirely in letter form, some scenes end abruptly and scenes that should be quite emotional lack any real feeling. Overall it is a pleasant book and Shaffer and Barrows paint an incredible picture of Guernsey, so much so that readers will almost smell the sea air and see the cottages lined up. Where it falls short is the ending, which finishes quickly and is a disappointment. However, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society would make an ideal book to read at the beach.

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society was first published in 2008 by The Dial Press, US and in Australia and New Zealand by Allen & Unwin, and in Great Britain by Bloomsbury (ISBN 978-1-74175-895-5). This was Shaffer’s first novel and sadly she passed away at aged 70 in 2008 before seeing the book in print. The book was finished by her niece Annie Barrows.

The copyright of the article Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society in Historical Romance Fiction is owned by Roberta Goli. Permission to republish Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.