Book Review: The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer & Annie Barrows

The year is 1946 and the world is wallowing in the aftermath of WWII when an unlikely but promising correspondence begins. Mr. Dawsey Adams, a founding member of the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, begins an unlikely correspondence with a young columnist named Juliet Ashton from London. Dawsey - a shy, quiet, good-hearted, gentle man from the island of Guernsey - manages to pique Juliet's interest with tales and letters from his country co-horts and bookish friends. She ends up traveling to Guernsey to write a book and to escape the unappreciated advances of a forward suitor.

The story is told completely in letters - letters from Juliet to her friends, publisher, beau and the good people of Guernsey who return the favor, eventually welcoming and caring a great deal for her. There are letters from an amusing variety of Juliet's friends and associates, as well. Using letters is an uncommon way to tell a story although 84 Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff and A. R. Gurney's successful play, Love Letters, will spring immediately to the minds of bibliophiles as other examples. Similarly charming, Guernsey Literary Society is light-hearted (despite some of the more somber pages relating to the war) and Shaffer's penchant for all things quaint won't be lost on readers. For example, the fictitious literary society hardly resembles the more traditional / academic British literary society; the term is used intentionally loosely. Not as complex as Love Letters, the Shaffer / Barrows novel qualifies as light reading, echoing the British tone of 84 Charing Cross Road.

Guernsey makes a picturesque setting and Shaffer describes it nicely. Its residents are charmingly idiosyncratic. At times, however, some letters seem disconnected and at one point, members of the Guernsey book group take it upon themselves to share their own writings at society meetings, which prove (to the society as well as to readers) to be overly self-indulgent. There's also a measure of predictability to the plot, although some would argue that the alternative is the anomaly - more a "gold" standard than a standard - in contemporary literature these days rather than the norm.

Even so, IndieBound put The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society on their 'Indie Next List' and the San Francisco Chronicle¹ called it "...traditional without seeming stale, and romantic without being naïve." Parts of the novel are, indeed, delightful. In addition, the story behind the novel is not without its own charm, and has a way of enticing readers otherwise not compelled to read nine months of letters among strangers.

Mary Ann Shaffer discovered the island of Guernsey much like Juliet did - a bit by chance. Twenty years later, inspired by her writing group, Shaffer began to write The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. After sending a finished manuscript to her editor, Shaffer fell ill and was unable to complete the extensive rewrites required by her publisher. That's when her niece stepped in. Initially somewhat intimidated, Annie Barrows knew she could not refuse:

"...once I began I discovered something: It was easy...because I had grown up on Mary Ann's tales-they didn't just come with the butter, they were the butter...In the same way that people acquire accents and politics from their surroundings, I acquired stories."

Shaffer was not alive to enjoy the book's success, but Barrows assures us it is full of Mary Ann herself: quirky, charming, vivid and witty. Further, she notes that the wartime stories deserve to be told and passed on - but advises against trying to bake a potato peel pie.

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows
Dial Press Trade Paperback (May 5, 2009)
ISBN-13: 978-0385341004
290 pages

Buy it at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Borders, Powell's or Your Independent Local Bookstore

¹San Francisco Chronicle