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The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
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The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society (2008) (edit title/settings)

by Mary Ann Shaffer (Author), Annie Barrows (Author) (edit contributors)

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Written with warmth and humor as a series of letters, this novel is a celebration of the written word in all its guises, and of finding connection in the most surprising ways.

Summary edit see section history

“I wonder how the book got to Guernsey? Perhaps there is some sort of secret homing instinct in books that brings them to their perfect readers.” January 1946: London is emerging from the shadow of the Second World War, and writer Juliet Ashton is looking for her next book subject. Who could... read more (warning: may contain spoilers)

“I wonder how the book got to Guernsey? Perhaps there is some sort of secret homing instinct in books that brings them to their perfect readers.” January 1946: London is emerging from the shadow of the Second World War, and writer Juliet Ashton is looking for her next book subject. Who could imagine that she would find it in a letter from a man she’s never met, a native of the island of Guernsey, who has come across her name written inside a book by Charles Lamb ... As Juliet and her new correspondent exchange letters, Juliet is drawn into the world of this man and his friends — and what a wonderfully eccentric world it is. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society — born as a spur-of-the-moment alibi when its members were discovered breaking curfew by the Germans occupying their island — boasts a charming, funny, deeply human cast of characters, from pig farmers to phrenologists, literature lovers all. Juliet begins a remarkable correspondence with the society’s members, learning about their island, their taste in books, and the impact the recent German occupation has had on their lives. Captivated by their stories, she sets sail for Guernsey, and what she finds will change her forever.

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  • “Aparte de mi interés en su "interés"por la lectura, me he enamorado de dos hombres: Eben Ramsey y Dawsey Adams. También me gustan Clovis Fossey y John Booker. Quiero que Amelia Maugery me adopte, y yo quiero adoptar a Isola Pribby. Voy a dejar que adivines mis sentimientos por Adelaide Addison (señorita) cuando leas sus cartas.”
    Juliet
  • “Alguna vez te has parado a pensar que el hombre tenía un alma, que no son solo habladurías, sino que !era una verdad conocida y que en la práctica seguían!. En verdad, era otro mundo....pero aun así, es una pena que hayamos perdido la capacidad de oir a nuestra alma...en realidad, deberíamos ir de nuevo en su búsqueda o peores cosas nos ocurrirán. No es significativo que conozcas tu alma por lo que dicen los demás en lugar de por ti mismo? Por qué tendría que dejar que un parroco me dijera si tengo una o no? Si puedo creer por mi mismo que tengo un alma, entonces puedo escuchar, yo solo, lo que me dice.”
    Will Thisbee
  • “P.S. I did not throw "The Shepherd Boy Sings in the Valley of Humiliation" at the audience. I threw it at the elocution mistress. I meant to cast it at her feet, but I missed.”
    Juliet Ashton
  • “So far my only thought is that reading keeps you from going gaga”
    Juliet Ashton
  • “Reading good books ruins you for enjoying bad books”
    Isola Pribby
  • “I wonder how the book got to Guernsey? Perhaps there is some secret sort of homing instinct in books that brings them to their perfect readers. How delightful if that were true.”
    Juliet to Dawsey
  • “Men are more interesting in books than they are in real life.”
    Isola Pribby to Juliet
  • “What a blight that woman is. Do you happen to know why? I lean toward a malignant fairy at her christening.”
    Juliet to Dawsey, about Adelaide Addison
  • “-no bended knee, but a diamond as big as a pigeon egg-”
    Juliet Ashton
  • “I think she'll want to kiss him for it. You can too- but keep it short. I make no threats, Juliet- but Ivor is mine.”
    Susan to Juliet
  • “P.S. Thank you for the lovely clipping of Mark dancing with Ursula Fent. If you were hoping to send me into a jealous rage, you failed. Especially as Mark had already telephoned to tell me that Ursula follows him about like a lovesick bloodhound. You see? The two of you do have something in common: you both want me to be miserable. Perhaps you could start a club.”
    Juliet to Sidney
  • “‘Life goes on.’ What nonsense, I thought, of course it doesn’t. It’s death that goes on.”
    Amelia Maugery
  • “No flowers or vines can cover over such memories as these, can they? I have told you the most hateful story of the war.”
    Amelia Maugery
  • “That's what I love about reading: one tiny thing will interest you in a book, and that tiny thing will lead you to another book, and another bit there will lead you onto a third book. It's geometrically progressive - all with no end in sight, and for no other reason than sheer enjoyment.”
    Juliet to Dawsey
  • “"Think of it, friends," Augustus said, " a lifetime of misery with God not letting you draw one easy breath. Then in your last few minutes - POOF! - you'd get Mercy. Thanks for nothing I say."”
    from Juliet to Sidney
  • “As to that Sidney, he sounds a very fine man - but bossy. It's a common failing in men.”
    Isola
  • “When adding eggs break the shells first.”
    Juliet quoting from Beginner's Cook Book for Girl Guides
  • “He could talk an angel out of Heaven if he chose to speak, which is not enough to suit me.”
    Juliet
  • “And I say that if some toffee-nosed Brit wants to call being human Collaboration, they'll need to talk to me and Mrs. Godfrey first.”
    Sam Withers
  • “I miss the feeling that we understood one another, but I begin to think that was only my delusion all along.”
    Juliet to Sophie
  • “I can't think of anything lonelier than spending the rest of my life with someone I can't talk to, or worse, someone I can't be silent with.”
    Juliet
  • “Have you ever noticed that when your mind is awakened, or drawn to someone new, that persons name suddenly pops up everywhere you go? My friend Sophie calls it coincidence, and Mr. Simplus, my parson friend, calls it grace. He thinks that if one cares deeply about someone or something new, one throws a kind of energy out into the world; and fruitfulness is drawn in.”
    Juliet
  • “We are transformed - magically - into the literary society each time we pass a book along, each time we ask a question aboutt it, each time we say, 'If you liked that, I'd bet you'd like this'. Whenever we are willing to be delighted and share our delight, as Mary Ann did, we are part of the ongoing story of 'The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society".”
    Annie Barrows
  • “… but I much prefer whining to counting my blessings.”
  • Popular Highlights from Kindle Customers
  • That’s what I love about reading: one tiny thing will interest you in a book, and that tiny thing will lead you onto another book, and another bit there will lead you onto a third book. It’s geometrically progressive—all with no end in sight, and for no other reason than sheer enjoyment.
    Highlighted by 1078 Kindle customers
  • “Is it so small a thing to have enjoyed the sun, to have lived light in the spring, to have loved, to have thought, to have done, to have advanced true friends?”
    Highlighted by 1068 Kindle customers
  • I can’t think of anything lonelier than spending the rest of my life with someone I can’t talk to, or worse, someone I can’t be silent with.
    Highlighted by 1023 Kindle customers
  • Have you ever noticed that when your mind is awakened or drawn to someone new, that person’s name suddenly pops up everywhere you go? My friend Sophie calls it coincidence, and Mr. Simpless, my parson friend, calls it Grace. He thinks that if one cares deeply about someone or something new one throws a kind of energy out into the world, and “fruitfulness” is drawn in.
    Highlighted by 742 Kindle customers
  • As Seneca says, “Light griefs are loquacious, but the great are dumb.”
    Highlighted by 637 Kindle customers
  • It seems to me the less he said, the more beauty he made. Do you know what sentence of his I admire the most? It is “The bright day is done, and we are for the dark.”
    Highlighted by 366 Kindle customers
  • Seneca. Do you know who he was? He was a Roman philosopher who wrote letters to imaginary friends telling them how to behave for the rest of their lives. Maybe that sounds dull, but the letters aren’t—they’re witty. I think you learn more if you’re laughing at the same time.
    Highlighted by 250 Kindle customers
  • It is my belief that with two such men in the household and no way to meet others, Emily had to make Heathcliff up out of thin air! And what a fine job she did. Men are more interesting in books than they are in real life.
    Highlighted by 183 Kindle customers
  • I don’t believe that after reading such a fine writer as Emily Brontë, I will be happy to read again Miss Amanda Gillyflower’s Ill-Used by Candlelight. Reading good books ruins you for enjoying bad books.
    Highlighted by 122 Kindle customers
  • Amativeness, is Juliet. Also Conjugal Love. I told her it was a wonder she wasn’t married, with such great mounds.
    Highlighted by 119 Kindle customers
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Setting & Locations edit see section history

  • Guernsey: One of the Channel Islands located between the south coast of the United Kingdom and northern France.
  • London: A city in Great Britain
  • England: A country in Europe, in a post war state after WWII in this story
  • France: The Country across the channel from England
  • Channel Islands: A set of islands between England and France
  • St. Peter Port: In Guernsey
  • Australia
  • Paris: Capital of France
  • Europe
  • Germany: Country recently surrendered to the allied forces
  • Normandy: Region in France; beaches of Normandy were stormed on D-Day on June 6 1944
  • Belsen: Bergen-Belsen concentration camp (or Belsen) was a Nazi concentration camp in Lower Saxony in northwestern Germany, southwest of the town of Bergen near Celle.
  • Raavensbruck: A Nazi concentration camp for women
  • Crazy Ida's: A pub in St. Peter's Port
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Organizations edit see section history

First Sentence edit see section history

Dear Sidney, Susan Scott is a wonder.

Table of Contents edit see section history

Part One
Part Two

Glossary edit see section history

  • Todt workers: Germany’s slave workers in camps on the continent
  • Golliwogg: A soft doll with a black face, usually made of cloth or rags, resembling the American black faced minstrels. From the name of a doll character in children's books by Bertha Upton. See http://www.ferris.edu/jimcrow/golliwog/

Themes & Symbolism edit see section history

Series & Lists edit see section history

This is book 170 of 194 in Shelfari Most Popular (December 2010). (authoritative list)
This is book 162 of 195 in Shelfari Most Popular (December 2011). (authoritative list)
This book is in Hopeless Romantic. (community list)
This book is in Random Synapses: 100 Book Reading Challenge (2011). (community list)
This is book 165 of 195 in Shelfari Most Popular (June 2011). (authoritative list)
This book is in KCPL Discussion Kit (Aug2010). (community list)
This is book 38 of 145 in Whitcoulls Top 100 (2011). (authoritative list)
This is book 34 of 121 in Whitcoulls Top 100 (2012). (authoritative list)
This is book 191 of 195 in Shelfari Most Popular (June 2010). (authoritative list)

Authors & Contributors edit see section history

  1. Mary Ann Shaffer (Author) - Mary Ann Shaffer died before she finished the book. Her neice Annie Barrows, having worked with Mary Ann prior to her demise, completed the novel. She did an amazing job pinch-hitting for her aunt.
  2. Annie Barrows (Author)

First Edition edit see section history

Original Language: English
Publisher: The Dial Press
Country: United States of America
Publication Date: 2008
ISBN: 0385340990
Page Count: 288

Awards edit see section history

Classification edit see section history

  • Library of Congress: PS3619 .H3365 G84 2008
  • Dewey: 813.6

Notes for Parents edit see section history

Reading Level: Adults

This book deals with some of the emotion surrounding the German occupation. It contains few, but not many adult themes. With parent approval, it might be appropriate for a young adult audience.

Links to Supplemental Material edit see section history

More Books Like This edit see section history

   
  • The Postmistress
  • People of the Book
  • Loving Frank
  • The Help
  • Olive Kitteridge
  • The Heretic's Daughter
  • Testimony
  • The Gargoyle
  • The Book of Ebenezer Le Page
  • The House at Riverton
  • The Thirteenth Tale
  • 84, Charing Cross Road
  • The Story of Edgar Sawtelle

Books Cited by This Book edit see section history

   
  • Jane Eyre
  • Wuthering Heights
  • The Essays of Elia
  • Empedocles On Etna, And Other Poems
  • The Collected Poems of Wilfred Owen
  • The Oxford Book of Modern Verse 1892-1935
  • Select Letters of Seneca
  • Past and Present
  • The Secret Garden
  • The life of Charles Lamb: London, Methuen

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