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

I picked this book up from the Big Book Sale earlier this spring. It took awhile to get to it as I always seem to have a stack of books waiting to be read. This one was a good pick!

The story is of Juilet Ashton, a writer of newspaper articles and a book just after WWII. England seems very dark and gloomy after the war has ended and Juliet is eager to forget the war. One day she receives a letter from a man on the island of Guernsey. He had a book about Charles Lamb that she had once owned. He wrote to her asking if she would be able to help him find another book about Charles Lamb. She responds and begins a correspondence with him. He soon tells her about Guernsey and what happened to him and other inhabitants during the German occupation of the island (Clearly my knowledge of WWII is not great, as I had no idea that an English island was occupied during the war). As a way to cope, a group of people created a literary society. The potato peel pie part of the name was added as that was one of the "desserts" they ate when there was virtually no food left.

Juliet begins corresponding with others in the society and begins to form the idea of writing about them as her next book. Eventually she decides she must visit the island and falls in love with the people there. She learns stories about all the people in the society, including their founding member who was arrested during the occupation and has not returned.

The book was very enjoyable. I seem to be drawn to stories about the world wars and the remarkable people who lived then, or at least lived in these stories. I'm sure there were plenty of people just like me during the war, but it's nicer to imagine that everyone was strong and resilient then.