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by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows.
Hardback (5.7×8.5 inches). 278 pages. 2008.
Historical fiction novel found in the discount bin offers a look at the WWII German occupation of Guernsey (UK Channel Islands). The one thing you need to get used to is that the entire book consists of an exchange of letters among all the protagonists in 1946. It seems like a gimmick and it is…and once you get accustomed to it, it’s an effective gimmick.
If I savvy this right, the main protagonist Juliet Ashton wrote humorous war-time home front stories for a newspaper and her collection of them post-war was a big hit. She was looking around for her next book idea and wanted to do something serious. One day, a letter from a Mr. Dawcey Adams arrives via her old London address (the house having been bombed out of existence) asking about the author Charles Lamb. It turns out Adams bought a used book that had Ashton’s address written inside, so he wanted to know if she knew a bookstore which could sell him Charles Lamb books.
So begins a correspondence with him and myriad other Guernsey residents who formed the Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society under German occupation and are keeping it going post war. Slowly, as she becomes known to them, they tell their tales and thus Juliet begins to research the occupation for her next book.
Once you get used to the letter format, and I gotta say the British Royal Mail seems awfully super-efficient in 1946 moving mail between Guernsey and London, it’s quite charming in its effect. Being a novel, I’m figuring events are altered to fit the story. I do have a nonfiction history book called Jewels and Jackboots by John Nettles about the WWII Channel Island occupation that’s been on my to read list for years. The Guernsey book prompted me to pull it down.
Every once in a while, the discount bin yields a gem. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society is one such gem.
Enjoyed it.
— Reviewed by Russ Lockwood
