In the aftermath of WWII England author Juliet Ashton is riding the wave from her previous book and looking for a subject for the next. Juliet unexpectedly receives a letter from a man, Dawsey, who lives on the island of Guernsey. Guernsey was occupied by the Germans during the War and materials such as books have become scarce. Dawsey has in his possession a book that was once owned by Juliet and still has her address, he writes to her to see if she would be willing to connect him with someone to send him more books. Through their letters, Juliet learns more of the Guernsey occupation and the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society that was made up to help the residents through this time. Juliet becomes infatuated with the residents of Guernsey and their book society. When she decides to visit Guernsey, Juliet finds that it is like visiting old friends as well as finding a heroine fit for her new book.
Written in epistolary form, this was a quick read that moved from letter to letter. This is also definitely a book for book lovers, with such wonderful quotes as "Because there is nothing I would rather do than rummage through bookshops,...I have gone to them for years, always finding the one book I wanted- and then three more I hadn't known I wanted." I also ended up learning about the Guernsey Occupation, which I had no idea about and more about the effects of WWII in Great Britain. In learning about characters through letters, the best molded character ended up being the one person not present, but whom everyone else wrote about. This is very important to the book, but did leave me lacking in characterization for some of the people writing the letters. Everyone did seem to have a very similar voice in their letter writing and I constantly had to look at who was writing a letter to whom. Otherwise, this is a charming, heartfelt book that bookish people will enjoy.
Written in epistolary form, this was a quick read that moved from letter to letter. This is also definitely a book for book lovers, with such wonderful quotes as "Because there is nothing I would rather do than rummage through bookshops,...I have gone to them for years, always finding the one book I wanted- and then three more I hadn't known I wanted." I also ended up learning about the Guernsey Occupation, which I had no idea about and more about the effects of WWII in Great Britain. In learning about characters through letters, the best molded character ended up being the one person not present, but whom everyone else wrote about. This is very important to the book, but did leave me lacking in characterization for some of the people writing the letters. Everyone did seem to have a very similar voice in their letter writing and I constantly had to look at who was writing a letter to whom. Otherwise, this is a charming, heartfelt book that bookish people will enjoy.
