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The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows
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The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

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The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows
Hardcover $27.00
Jul 29, 2008 | ISBN 9780385340991

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Praise

“I can’t remember the last time I discovered a novel as smart and delightful as this one, a world so vivid that I kept forgetting this was a work of fiction populated with characters so utterly wonderful that I kept forgetting they weren’t my actual friends and neighbors. Treat yourself to this book please—I can’t recommend it highly enough.”—Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat, Pray, Love

“Traditional without seeming stale, and romantic without being naive . . . It’s tempting to throw around terms like ‘gem’ when reading a book like this. But Guernsey is not precious. . . . This is a book for firesides or long train rides. It’s as charming and timeless as the novels for which its characters profess their love.”San Francisco Chronicle Book Review

“[The] characters step from the past radiant with eccentricity and kindly humour. [The] writing, with its delicately offbeat, self-deprecating stylishness, is exquisitely turned.”The Guardian (U.K.)

“I’ve never wanted to join a club so desperately as I did while reading Guernsey. . . . [The novel] is a labor of love and it shows on almost every page.”The Christian Science Monitor

“I could not put the book down. I have recommended it to all my friends.”Newsday

“A jewel . . . Poignant and keenly observed, Guernsey is a small masterpiece about love, war, and the immeasurable sustenance to be found in good books and good friends.”People

“A book-lover’s delight, an implicit and sometimes explicit paean to all things literary.”Chicago Sun-Times

“A sparkling epistolary novel radiating wit, lightly worn erudition and written with great assurance and aplomb.”The Sunday Times (London)

“Cooked perfectly à point: subtle and elegant in flavour, yet emotionally satisfying to the finish.”The Times (London)

“A sweet, sentimental paean to books and those who love them. . . . It affirms the power of books to nourish people enduring hard times.”The Washington Post Book World

“[A] marvelous debut . . . This is a warm, funny, tender, and thoroughly entertaining celebration of the power of the written word.”Library Journal

“A poignant, funny novel that celebrates the resilience of the human spirit. . . . A treat.”The Boston Globe

“A sure winner.”Kirkus Reviews

“Delightful . . . One of those joyful books that celebrates how reading brings people together.”New Orleans Times-Picayune

“Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows have written a wondrous, delightful, poignant book— part Jane Austen, part history lesson. The letters aren’t addressed to you, but they are meant for you. It’s a book everyone should read. An absolute treasure.”—Sarah Addison Allen, author of Garden Spells

Awards

The Washington Post “Best Books” WINNER 2008

Author Essay

The entry below originally appeared on the ReadingGroupGuides.com blog

Annie Barrows
September 24, 2008

Like many readers of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, I want to go to a Society meeting. I want to sit in Clovis and Nancy Fossey’s living room–with spillover into the kitchen–and argue about Wuthering Heights and Seneca. I want to chat with Dawsey and Isola. I used to want a piece of potato peel pie, but then I had one, so I don’t want that anymore.

I have received many, many letters from readers all over the world bemoaning the fact that the book comes to an end. “I wanted it to go on forever,” they say. “I want to go to Guernsey and join a book club.” “I want to be a member of the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society.” And the answer is Yes. As long as we don’t get too caught up in the space-time continuum, the book does still go on, every time a reader talks about it with another reader. The membership of the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society increases each time the book is read and enjoyed. The wonderful thing about books–and the thing that made them such a refuge for the islanders during the Occupation–is that they take you out of your time and place and transport you, not just into the world of the story, but into the world of your fellow-readers, who have stories of their own.

In the last six weeks, the weeks since the book was published, I have heard from readers who were reminded of their own wartime experiences. One Guernsey native told me of his evacuation to England, along with hundreds of other children, the week before the Germans invaded. The most thrilling moment, he said, was his first glimpse of a black cow. He hadn’t known cows came in black. Another woman, a child in Germany during the war, told of bringing food to the French soldier hiding in her attic–she was the only member of the family small enough to squeeze through the trapdoor.

It’s not all war-stories, though. I’ve heard from people who want to know if Isaac Bickerstaffe is real (yes) and people who want to make potato peel pie (don’t do it!) and people who want to read another book written in letters (Daddy Long Legs). Mostly, though, I’ve heard from people who are happy because they enjoyed the book.

This, it seems to me, is the new version of the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. Its members are spread all over the world, but they are joined by their love of books, of talking about books, and of their fellow readers. We are transformed–magically–into a book club each time we pass a book along, each time we ask a question about it, each time we exclaim, “Oh, I loved that book!” when we see someone else reading it, each time we say “If you liked that, I bet you’d like this.” Reading joins us into a motley, sometimes argumentative club–and what could be better than that?

 

The entry below originally appeared on the ReadingGroupGuides.com blog

Annie Barrows
September 24, 2008

Like many readers of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, I want to go to a Society meeting. I want to sit in Clovis and Nancy Fossey’s living room–with spillover into the kitchen–and argue about Wuthering Heights and Seneca. I want to chat with Dawsey and Isola. I used to want a piece of potato peel pie, but then I had one, so I don’t want that anymore.

I have received many, many letters from readers all over the world bemoaning the fact that the book comes to an end. “I wanted it to go on forever,” they say. “I want to go to Guernsey and join a book club.” “I want to be a member of the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society.” And the answer is Yes. As long as we don’t get too caught up in the space-time continuum, the book does still go on, every time a reader talks about it with another reader. The membership of the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society increases each time the book is read and enjoyed. The wonderful thing about books–and the thing that made them such a refuge for the islanders during the Occupation–is that they take you out of your time and place and transport you, not just into the world of the story, but into the world of your fellow-readers, who have stories of their own.

In the last six weeks, the weeks since the book was published, I have heard from readers who were reminded of their own wartime experiences. One Guernsey native told me of his evacuation to England, along with hundreds of other children, the week before the Germans invaded. The most thrilling moment, he said, was his first glimpse of a black cow. He hadn’t known cows came in black. Another woman, a child in Germany during the war, told of bringing food to the French soldier hiding in her attic–she was the only member of the family small enough to squeeze through the trapdoor.

It’s not all war-stories, though. I’ve heard from people who want to know if Isaac Bickerstaffe is real (yes) and people who want to make potato peel pie (don’t do it!) and people who want to read another book written in letters (Daddy Long Legs). Mostly, though, I’ve heard from people who are happy because they enjoyed the book.

This, it seems to me, is the new version of the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. Its members are spread all over the world, but they are joined by their love of books, of talking about books, and of their fellow readers. We are transformed–magically–into a book club each time we pass a book along, each time we ask a question about it, each time we exclaim, “Oh, I loved that book!” when we see someone else reading it, each time we say “If you liked that, I bet you’d like this.” Reading joins us into a motley, sometimes argumentative club–and what could be better than that?

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