Ezra Lockwood

A.Shafter & A.Barrows certainly outdid them selves this time with “The Guernsey Literary And Potato Peel Pie Society”. It’s the tale of an aspiring author as she tries to work, live, and love in a post WW2 England. Soon she finds herself tangled up in a web of mystery, scandal, and uncertainty. She soon finds herself sending letters to new found friends on one of the channel islands. “T.G.L.A.P.P.S” is a desirable read. It is a Historical fiction but it is also a historical romance and a war tale. It’s been praised as “An astonishing achievement”(A.W.W) and Courier Mail said “Where to start with this truly delightful book”. The book most challenging aspect about it is that is written in letter form. This I feel is a nice touch and I find it hard to picture the story without this quirk. However for this and the fact it written in a 1940’s vocabulary, I would not recommend this book to a reader of little discipline. I believe it to be best for anyone in or above their twenties at least. Interestingly, two authors wrote this book. Tragically, one of the authors, Mary Ann, died in 2008 and was never able to see her book published. In 2018, the book was made into a movie starring Lily James as Juliet. The year is 1946, the world is straight out of WW2. We follow the life of an author who lives and works in London and is pressured on all sides by her publisher, her wealthy boyfriend, and just the unstable forties society. She soon escapes on an assignment to the small channel island of Guernsey. She soon makes an undeniable bond with the islanders and their warming as well as hearty book club. As she draws closer to them she starts to wonder if there could be a life other than work on the little isle as well as if there is more than friendship with one of the islanders. The story’s protagonist is named Juliet Ashton. During WW2 she was a fire marshal and a newspaper writer. Now she is stressed to find a topic for her new book and newspaper article which leads her to the island of Guernsey. Her character is very diverse and when her ‘frenemy’ is asked to describe her she says “I cannot impugn her character only her common sense. She hasn’t any” (Pg. 40). Whist others described her by saying “ You can trust her, I am unequivocal on this point” (Pg. 42). The first islander she corresponds with is Dawsey Adams. He is a farmer who looks after an orphaned girl called Kit. During the war he helped start the society. The setting can be difficult to determine based of the fact that it’s written in letters. However once you get past that, the scenes ranging from London to St Peters are described minimally but enough to get a definitive picture of the locations. All things considered, I believe it to be an underrated book and definitely needs more attention. I adore the authors use of letters and all the attention to small details such as the real world issues from that time. I probably regret not waiting until I was older to read it as I believe I would appreciate it more.