The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

By Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows

($14.00, Simon & Schuster)



This satisfying novel is filled with history and love and places that few knew existed. Guernsey is in the Channel Islands, between Great Britain and France. During World War II it was occupied by German soldiers. The war has ended and the soldiers have departed, leaving the people of Guernsey to reclaim their lives.

Juliet Ashton, a well-known but currently unmotivated London author, begins a correspondence with Mr. Dawsey Adams, who resides on the island of Guernsey. After exchanges of several letters, Juliet is intrigued by the effect of the war on this place and suggests that other islanders share their stories with her for a potential book. The novel consists entirely of letters, the awkward exchanges between strangers and the intimate ones between friends.

Like beginning a sculpture with the powder of clay, the author melds these letters to bring form, patting them into a shape that invites curiosity, sculpting them with a fine touch to tease out detail. By the time Juliet steps off the mail boat onto Guernsey, we no longer see the correspondence as ink on paper but as the fleshed-out stories and people she is coming to meet. And we are glad to be there among them.



Mary Burns is the owner of The BookWORKS, located at 1510 Third Street, downtown Marysville, 360.659.4997, or online at www.marysvillebookworks.com. Comments or requests are welcome at [email protected].