The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

There are times when you look at a book and find it so strange that you can’t forget its name even if you tried darned hard to. Ah, no, it’s not love at first sight, though.

When this book was passed around to me for a tiny detail that I needed to send to a retailer, a few of my colleagues glanced at me appreciating my choice and giving those soft nods that say “good book”, “you just have to read it” and “give the book to me once you’re done reading”. Since I have a tremendously big ego that forbids me to read whatever comes with a bestseller tag, the said book took its place on my table with the fifty other books there. Through the week, it shifted from this side to that, making space for my laptop, the numerous cups of coffee, the lunch box, the other unnecessary appendages to office work. But, it stayed in sight always- on my desk or in my mind- this strange little book with postage stamps across its cover.

For anyone who knows me, postage stamps are a winning deal.So after a week of looking at the book through the corner of my eye, it wasn’t surprising that I took it home. The blurb at the back had succeeded at its job and I was secretly congratulating myself for having found this perfectly good companion for the weekend.

It’s 1946 and columnist-turned-author Juliet Ashton can’t think of what to write next. She is on a tour across Europe to promote her last book, though initially unwilling to leave her home in London- well atleast what’s left of it after the bombings. Out of the blue, she receives a letter from a certain Dawsey Adams of Guernsey- an island in the English Channel- who has by chance, acquired a book that once belonged to her. And thus starts their correspondence. When Dawsey reveals that he is a member of the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, Juliet’s curiosity is piqued and it’s not long before she begins to hear from other members about stories of their life under the German occupation. As the blurb mentions aptly, Juliet soon realises that the society is every bit as extraordinary as its name.

The book opens with a brief introduction- or an ode, if you will- to its authors Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Burrows. Mary Ann was born in 1934 in West Virginia and became interested in Guernsey while visiting London in 1980. On a random whim, she decides to visit Guernsey and is left stranded there due to heavy fog and no way to leave the island. While she waits, she chances upon a book called Jersey Under the Jack-Boot and this is where her fascination with the Channel Islands begin (Jersey is another island in the English Channel). After many years, Guernsey was still on her mind when she was prodded by her book club to write a novel. Unfortunately, at the very last stage of her novel, she fell critically ill and asked her niece Annie to help her finish the novel. Which she did. Mary Ann died in February 2008, knowing that her only novel was to be published in 13 countries. First published in Great Britain in 2008, this book has no chapters, just a slew of letters back and forth between its characters.

I wonder how this works. Mary Ann ‘chanced upon’ a book while stranded on an Island and thus started her own journey. Dawsey Adams, in the novel, ‘chances upon’ a book that once belonged to Juliet and thus starts their correspondence. I ‘chance upon’ this book in the middle of a busy weekday and am left wondering.

​The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Burrows

Bloomsbury Publishing

248 pages, Rs 350

Related posts:

I am trying to pay off all debts on my credit. Where can I get a report showing the bad debts on my credit and the numbers and\or addresses to pay them off. I have found a million sites that offer…