Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows

Dear Readers,

Argh... This review is driving me nuts. I feel it should write itself as the book, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, is such a neat read. I am having trouble only because I don't want to say too much, but I am not sure how to while still making this sound like a good book.

Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows put together a delightful story about post World War II England. This book is set in Guernsey, a small island just off the coast of France, but it belongs to England. The story itself is written in letter form, which is not always the easiest way to read a story, but it really works in this book. It all starts when Juliet Ashton receives a letter from a stranger on the island who is interested in finding more about Charles Lamb. It leads to the discovery of a wonderful and interesting group of people who started their book club to explain to the Germans why they were out after curfew one night.

I enjoyed meeting the people of Guernsey and learned a bunch about the island. I knew that they were the only part of England that the Germans occupied during the war. The idea was that they would be able to launch their attacks from there. I didn't know that they had just enough time to send their children away before the Germans arrived. They had no contact with the "outside" world or their kids for 5 years. I can't imagine it. They were down to burning parts of their house for fuel and were mostly surviving on potatoes and turnips.

Okay I am going to quit there as I feel like any more will just drag on and really not help. I will say if you haven't already read this book, it is one of the perfect books for just relaxing with.

Happy Reading