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The main heroine of ‘The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society’, Juliet, was a humor columnist during WWII. Her column was turned into a book called ‘Izzy Bickerstaff Goes to War’, earning her a reputation as a successful author. Juliet is determined that her next book will be a bit more serious, but is stuck for new subject matter. She receives a letter from a man named Dawsey from Guernsey who has found a book Juliet used to own and writes to ask for more information about the author, Charles Lamb. The two begin a correspondence, as Juliet asks to hear more about the Occupation of Guernsey during WWII and the origins of the infamous ‘Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society’ that brought Dawsey to Charles Lamb’s essays. Dawsey introduces Juliet to other members of the society who also write to her with stories about books, the Occupation and the society’s founder Elizabeth, who was taken to a prison camp and has not yet returned home.Almost the entire novel is written in letters and telegrams between Juliet and the people in her life. In real life letters seem like a slow form of communication, but this collection of letters has the immediacy of speech or thought, creating a quick, conversational tone. Juliet often pre-empts the comments she thinks the recipient will make about parts of her letters and responds to counter these imagined comments, which makes the letters sound more like an active conversation. Juliet writes in a quick, engaging style full of enthusiasm for life and I think more of her true personality is revealed through letters than would have been possible if the novel had been written in the first person. The letters give you access to Juliet’s private thoughts, as well as her interactions with the other characters and the distanced form of communication that letters provide allow her be more frank than face to face conversation would let her be. This gives the readers a much more fully developed narrative.
Letters in books can contain more depth than a period of face to face conversation as they are a one sided form of communication, that can’t be interrupted, but they generally don’t suffer from the artificiality of an extended monologue. One of the reasons that letters are the perfect form for this book is that letters allow those living on Guernsey to inform the readers about the period of Occupation, which is part of WWII that readers may not be familiar with. Most Londoners knew little about what had happened on Guernsey as lines of communication between the island and the mainland were cut by the Germans. This lack of knowledge allows the inhabitants of Guernsey to fill in the blanks for modern day readers, without the novel seeming overburdened with details characters from the times, like Juliet, would already know.
The descriptions of occupied life are one of the book’s biggest strengths, providing a unique perspective of the British wartime spirit, where people were urged to be cheery and self-sufficient. It is interesting to see the minor rebellions and comforts that enable the islanders to keep from crumbling, one of which leads to the creation of the society of the book’s title. Although everyone knows the extent of the German’s cruelty during WWII the hardships the islanders suffer are more extreme than might be expected. I certainly always imagined that the Occupation was quite a civilized affair compared with the horrors visited on other countries but the islander’s letters showed that the German’s brutality extended to Guernsey as well. Polish workers were brought to the island, treated little better than slaves who were hunted to death if they tried to escape. The food on the island was taken by the Germans and the islanders survived on little more than scraps. The pie of the title illustrates what they had to work with (although it is also an example of the strange quirks of some of the island’s citizens). Most poignant are the descriptions of the day the island’s children were sent away to England and the day the Germans landed, which are retold by a number of Juliet’s correspondents. Each account adds some new detail that shows the true terror of that day.
While several of the people Juliet writes to are male ‘The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society’ is mostly a book about women. Juliet is the main heroine, we hear her voice more than any other and the story follows her life, but there are so many other courageous women in this book. The absent Elizabeth is mentioned in so many letters that she feels like a present character and Juliet feels as if she knows her. Isolde, the island eccentric, lives alone but content, without bitterness, which is a remarkable achievement for a woman living in a time when nabbing a husband were thought to be the pinnacle of achievement. Amelia holds the society together in Elizabeth’s absence. Remy, survivor of the concentration camps, seems frail yet must contain immeasurable strength to have survived, stayed sane and told her story. Elizabeth’s small, fierce daughter Kit is the only child to remain on the island during the Occupation and she is the epitome of fighting spirit and recovery. The women’s buoyancy, their ability to survive and still stay cheerful animates the book and injects it with hope.
So go, believe the hype, this book is lovely. I’d say it’s a nostalgic read and a comfort read in the same way ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ was a feel good film. Bad things are discussed but you know everything will work out alright in the end.
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