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Product Description
Review
`A charming, nostalgic read, it is tipped to become the surprise hit of the summer' --The Times
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Review
'Charming ... one to lift even the most cynical of spirits' The Times 'Thronging with lovable people ... golden comedy' Guardian 'What a gorgeous book - very touching and funny' Joanna Lumley 'Delightfully spirited and quirky novel-of-letters ... You'd have to be pretty hard-hearted not to fall under its spell' Daily Mail Books of the Year
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
415 of 431 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review
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This is a truly delightful book. I worried before it arrived that an amusing and whimsical title might have persuaded me to request something which would turn out not to be very good, but I was wholly wrong. I enjoyed it immensely; it is witty, erudite without being smug, interesting, laugh-out-loud funny in places and very moving in others.
The novel is set in 1946 and is in the form of letters, mainly to and from the central character, Juliet Ashton, a successful writer who becomes, wholly coincidentally, involved with a group of people on Guernsey who lived through the wartime German Occupation. The characters are thoroughly engaging and Mary Ann Shaffer (although born in the USA) manages to capture the English voice of the time beautifully: the prose is a pleasure to read.
It is very hard to summarise any of the developing stories without giving away more than I'd have wanted to know in advance, so I won't try, but the book has something to say about all kinds of things. Among them are friendship, suffering, forgiveness, goodness and wickedness, the resilience of humanity in desperate circumstances, how reading may influence us and the history of the Channel Islanders during the war. All this makes it sound a bit worthy and turgid, but it's neither - anything but, in fact. I never felt that I was being lectured, the history forms a really interesting and beautifully evoked backdrop to a thoroughly involving story and the observations on other things are either implicit in the doings of characters I really cared about or made directly with wit and flair. And there's a really tense will-they-won't-they love story which Jane Austen would have been proud of and which kept me in nail-biting suspense right up to the last page.
One theme in the book is the impact of reading on hitherto unliterary characters, which carries a risk of being patronising or sentimental. Shaffer has a sure feel, though, and avoids both. She does, naturally, use the device to give her views on some of her favourite authors, but it's very wittily and sometimes touchingly done. For example, one of her characters says of Wilfred Owen, "...he knew what was what and called it by its right name. I was there, too, at Passchendaele, and I knew what he knew but I could never put it into words for myself." As a definition of poetry, I think you could do a lot worse than that. And in the same letter there is a paragraph about Yeats's omission of Great War poetry from his Oxford Book of Modern Verse which made me smile and brought a great lump to my throat at the same time.
Another of Shaffer's characters writes, "Reading good books ruins you for enjoying bad books." That's a very dangerous thing to write in a novel lest it be turned against you, but there is no chance of that here. This is a very good book indeed and I kept wanting to get back to reading it. I was completely carried along by it and when it ended I was very sorry that there was no more. I urge you to read it. I loved it and I'm sure others will too.
The novel is set in 1946 and is in the form of letters, mainly to and from the central character, Juliet Ashton, a successful writer who becomes, wholly coincidentally, involved with a group of people on Guernsey who lived through the wartime German Occupation. The characters are thoroughly engaging and Mary Ann Shaffer (although born in the USA) manages to capture the English voice of the time beautifully: the prose is a pleasure to read.
It is very hard to summarise any of the developing stories without giving away more than I'd have wanted to know in advance, so I won't try, but the book has something to say about all kinds of things. Among them are friendship, suffering, forgiveness, goodness and wickedness, the resilience of humanity in desperate circumstances, how reading may influence us and the history of the Channel Islanders during the war. All this makes it sound a bit worthy and turgid, but it's neither - anything but, in fact. I never felt that I was being lectured, the history forms a really interesting and beautifully evoked backdrop to a thoroughly involving story and the observations on other things are either implicit in the doings of characters I really cared about or made directly with wit and flair. And there's a really tense will-they-won't-they love story which Jane Austen would have been proud of and which kept me in nail-biting suspense right up to the last page.
One theme in the book is the impact of reading on hitherto unliterary characters, which carries a risk of being patronising or sentimental. Shaffer has a sure feel, though, and avoids both. She does, naturally, use the device to give her views on some of her favourite authors, but it's very wittily and sometimes touchingly done. For example, one of her characters says of Wilfred Owen, "...he knew what was what and called it by its right name. I was there, too, at Passchendaele, and I knew what he knew but I could never put it into words for myself." As a definition of poetry, I think you could do a lot worse than that. And in the same letter there is a paragraph about Yeats's omission of Great War poetry from his Oxford Book of Modern Verse which made me smile and brought a great lump to my throat at the same time.
Another of Shaffer's characters writes, "Reading good books ruins you for enjoying bad books." That's a very dangerous thing to write in a novel lest it be turned against you, but there is no chance of that here. This is a very good book indeed and I kept wanting to get back to reading it. I was completely carried along by it and when it ended I was very sorry that there was no more. I urge you to read it. I loved it and I'm sure others will too.
102 of 109 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review
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Told in epistolary form this book is comparable to 84 Charing Cross Road but also has a charm all of its own. Set in 1946, we meet Juliet, a writer who is searching for inspiration to begin a new book. By a string of coincidences she learns about The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society and becomes intrigued by them. They all begin writing to each other and sharing snippets of their lives. Some of their wartime tales are of heroics; some of love, some are humorous and some are heartbreaking. Through everything that they endured they became united by a shared passion for books. Although, in fact, the book group was originally just a subterfuge to outwit the German soldiers, but became a reality as a love for books was discovered between them all. The surprise at the end is wonderfully warming and such a delight.
Mary Anne Shaffer has told a story of wartime horrors and hardships, yet kept the tone gentle and just bearable to read, without taking away the awfulness of the Nazi occupation in Guernsey. This book had me entranced from the very beginning and will stay with me for some time to come.
Mary Anne Shaffer has told a story of wartime horrors and hardships, yet kept the tone gentle and just bearable to read, without taking away the awfulness of the Nazi occupation in Guernsey. This book had me entranced from the very beginning and will stay with me for some time to come.
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review
(What's this?)
What a fantastic book! The quirky title was my main reason for picking this little gem, i was hoping the book really would be as fun as the title and it really is!
It's an endearing novel focussing on juliet and the correspondance between herself and a man which happened by sheer coincidence and wanting to meet her new friends made through writing the letters, she visits and once there she loves it and becomes fascinated by the individuals who share their stories of the war and sets out to write a book about one in particular.. but it is so much more than that, it crams in so much energy and warmth, some absolutely amazing characters that jump off the pages and a truely delightful love story. It's one of those books you can't believe you haven't read before, set in time in 1946 you believe the time it's set in and wish you'd read it long before now!
A fantastic read, it's a perfect light read, you'll finish it so quickly like i did, you really enter their little world! Highly recommended.
It's an endearing novel focussing on juliet and the correspondance between herself and a man which happened by sheer coincidence and wanting to meet her new friends made through writing the letters, she visits and once there she loves it and becomes fascinated by the individuals who share their stories of the war and sets out to write a book about one in particular.. but it is so much more than that, it crams in so much energy and warmth, some absolutely amazing characters that jump off the pages and a truely delightful love story. It's one of those books you can't believe you haven't read before, set in time in 1946 you believe the time it's set in and wish you'd read it long before now!
A fantastic read, it's a perfect light read, you'll finish it so quickly like i did, you really enter their little world! Highly recommended.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
Although I found this book difficult to get in to initially it was worth persevering with. I always find books written as letters difficult because the natural flow of the book is... Read more
Published 3 days ago by baz
Something different
This book is quite different to anything I've ever read. I quite enjoyed it, but wouldn't bother to read it again.
Published 5 days ago by Rascal
The guernsey literary and potato peel pie societyd potato so
Starts slow and takes off, different way to tell a story. Never thought any part of Briton occupied in the war, great read.
Published 5 days ago by Carolyn H
Book Club Special
To a woman we all absolutely loved it - Probably the favourite of 5 years of book clubbing - Beautifully written and unique story
Published 6 days ago by TMG
required for reading group
It arrived on time & in very good condition, not something I would have chosen but was one of our reading group chosen books. Read more
Published 22 days ago by C. A. Bringloe
Step back in time..and see life enfold through a series of letters.
This book unfolds through a series of letters, from a young writer living in London just after WW2, to her publisher and friends. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Germcp
A great read
This book is a great read and draws people into the trials that Guernsey people endured during WW2. It also makes many readers want to visit the island. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Mrs. G. Mawson
I can't believe this book is so highly rated...
I chose this book simply because the shining 4 star rating and more than 400 people have reviewed it.. What a joke! Read more
Published 1 month ago by F.Lopez
Nice light read
I liked the format of the book - you learn the story via correspondences between the characters. It does mean that the book is not gripping, but it is still interesting. Read more
Published 1 month ago by G o' 'fax
Book was entertaining.
The format of the book was written as lots of letters to different characters. This was an interesting take on how to write and made a good read once you got into it. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Mrs. C Nejedly
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