The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

by Annie Barrows and Mary Ann Shaffer

Rosalyn Landor (Narrator), Paul Boehmer (Narrator), Juliet Mills (Narrator), Susan Duerden (Narrator), and John Lee (Narrator)

The beloved, life-affirming international bestseller which has sold over 5 million copies worldwide - now a major film starring Lily James, Matthew Goode, Jessica Brown Findlay, Tom Courtenay and Penelope Wilton

To give them hope she must tell their story

It's 1946. The war is over, and Juliet Ashton has writer's block. But when she receives a letter from Dawsey Adams of Guernsey - a total stranger living halfway across the Channel, who has come across her name written in a second hand book - she enters into a correspondence with him, and in time with all the members of the extraordinary Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. 

Through their letters, the society tell Juliet about life on the island, their love of books - and the long shadow cast by their time living under German occupation. Drawn into their irresistible world, Juliet sets sail for the island, changing her life forever.

• ISBN13: 9780739368442
• Publish Date: 29 July 2008 (first published 1 January 2008)
• Publish Status: Unknown
• Publish Country: GB
• Imprint: Random House Audio
• Format: Audiobook
• Duration: 8 hours
• Language: English

Reviews

[Bianca]

‪2019 Popsugar Reading Challenge‬
‪42. A book by two female authors‬

— All telling, no showing. Multiple POVs, but almost all characters had the same voice. Felt dull. Felt unreal. Sorry, but this book is just not for me

[mrs_mander_reads]

I loved this - it was such a sweet read. I'm excite to watch the Netflix adaptation now.

[luddite]

A light, fun, endearing read. Good distraction. And I am a sucker for letters in books.

[Leigha]

British author Juliet is ready to write her next novel about a book club held in Guernsey during the German occupation.

What an utterly charming as well as completely fascinating novel. Set after WWII, it’s told in a series of letters and correspondences between Juliet, a British writer, her publisher, her best friend, and a book club she meets on Guernsey. Juliet not only finds herself drawn to the islander’s struggle during the German occupation, but she finds a family (including romance) on the island. The format is made for listening, and luckily the audio book is done to perfection. Don’t read this novel, listen to it if you can.

I found myself falling in love with Juliet. She’s vibrant, compassionate, and driven. All of the secondary characters are as richly drawn as Juliet, but she is definitely the heart and soul of the book. The relationships she builds with the islanders felt as natural as breathing. I completely believed they loved her, and she loved them, by the end of the novel. The romance is not the driving force of the novel, but it’s still given time and attention to develop. The exploration of German occupation on Guernsey is fascinating, mixing the character driven moments with more serious historical relevance. I can’t rave enough about this book.

I read this book because I wanted to watch the movie adaptation on Netflix. Sadly, I think the movie adaptation totally missed the mark.

tl;dr A character driven book with historical details makes this an utterly charming and fascinating read.

[Nessa Luna]

Actual rating: 3,5.

[ibeforem]

This is one of those books that has languished on my TBR list for years, but I continued to read good things about it and see people recommend it. And they were all right!

What you find among all the letters is a pleasant story that taught me something I didn’t know about World War II. I had no idea that Guernsey was occupied by the Germans during the war, or that they occupied anywhere that wasn’t mainland Europe. There is definitely a tinge of sadness to what happened there, especially with no one knowing what happened to Elizabeth, who founded the Society. Despite that sadness, I think everyone ends up happier in the end.

[readingwithwrin]

Kind of found this book a little hard to follow with all the different POV's.

I did love learning about a part of WWII that I had no idea about.

Highly recommend the movie!

[mbtc]

During the first bit of this book I was not amused. I almost gave the book up, but decided to stick with it and I am so glad I did. The story picked up quite a bit with the trip to Guernsey and I began to love the characters. The book made me want a pen pal and to be able to write with Juliet's enthusiasm. Such a sweet and interesting story. I hope for a sequel!

[MurderByDeath]

The only reason I am not giving this a 5 star rating is because I found several references to animal cruelty during the war to be too disturbing for me personally, and they severely detracted from my pure enjoyment of this book. The narration was outstanding - I loved having the multiple narrators - and the characters really came to life. The authors did an outstanding job bringing Guernsey to life through the correspondence and I felt I was there on that island experiencing the war and its aftermath. Stories of the German occupation seemed very well thought out and the authors painted a portrait that included the dark and light of those 5 years.

I think this is a book that will stay with me for a long time to come, and I'll be looking for a nice hardback version to add to my book collection, so that I may re-read it from time to time (although I'll skip the bits about the animals!).

[inlibrisveritas]

I really loved this book. I thought it was going to be one of those overrated snorefests but it actually draws you in quickly and keeps your attention. The characters were really easy to like or in the rare case dislike, which surprised me since it was written as letters to and from various people.