Showing posts with label Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows. Show all posts

Thursday, July 16, 2009

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