If that title doesn’t make you want to find out more, then your natural curiosity is sadly deficient. Elaine at Random Jottings obviously felt the same, and I am indebted to her for asking Bloomsbury to send me a proof copy to review of Mary Ann Shaffer‘s novel The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. In fact, lovely Steph from Bloomsbury sent 12 books, but my Reader’s Block struck at the same time, and I’m only now able to pay proper attention to the beautiful pile of books. This one had to come first.
It’s been a while since I read an epistolary novel – I think the last was Fanny Burney’s Evelina, (that is letters, isn’t it?) or perhaps the joyous Pamela, which repeats the same letter more or less every page anyway (oo, almost caught by my master in some thin disguise; wasn’t quite…). My sentences do tend to wander off into the obscure, don’t they! ANYWAY, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society takes the form of letters to and from writer Juliet Ashton, in 1946. She has become popular under her pseudonym Izzy Bickerstaff, writing Izzy Bickerstaff Goes To War – which put me in mind of EM Delafield and The Provincial Lady in Wartime, which is all to the good. She describes herself in one of her letters, saving me the trouble of doing so:
‘I am thirty-three years old… In a good mood, I call my hair chestnut with gold glints. In a bad mood, I call it mousy brown. It wasn’t a windy day [in a photo]; my hair always looks like that. Naturally curly hair is a curse, and don’t ever let anyone tell you different. My eyes are hazel. While I am slender, I am not tall enough to suit me.’
I think I fell in love with Juliet when she revealed that a)she had also written an unpopular biography of my favourite Bronte sister, Anne – and b)that she broke up with her fiance when she found him ‘sitting on the low stool in front of my bookcase, surrounded by cardboard boxes. He was sealing the last one with tape and string. There were eight boxes – eight boxes of my books bound up and ready for the basement!’ What is more, he’d replaced her books with his sporting trophies. Obviously he had to go.
All this has happened before the novel opens – Juliet is in the throes of trying to find material for a new book. Her correspondance is with her loveable publisher Sidney and his sister Sophie, until out of the blue a letter arrives from a Guernsey farmer, Dawsey Adams, who has found her address inside a secondhand copy of Charles Lamb. Juliet gets the idea to write about Guernsey under Nazi Occupation – and strikes up a correspondance with several Guernsey residents (shy Dawsey; eccentric Isola; fisherman Eben) and decides to visit them to find out more. The letters continue to those back home, including would-be lover Markham Reynolds, and Juliet’s life becomes increasingly bound up in Guernsey and its inhabitants.
So what is ‘The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society’? To cover up the eating of an illicit pig (one of the things Nazi Occupants forbade) quick-thinking Elizabeth says that they were at a literary society – to make the story believable, they start one up. And the sustenance is in the form of potato peel pie, being all the food they could find. Elizabeth – who was sent away to a Continental prison during the war, and has not returned – becomes the central figure of these people and the novel, despite her protracted absence.
Like many people, I suspect, I knew little about the wartime occupation of the Channel Islands – Mary Ann Shaffer’s novel is so illuminating about the conditions and experiences of those being controlled, but more than that, she creates unique and sympathetic characters. There are some upsetting details, but never gratuitously harrowing – Mary Ann Shaffer obviously knows how much more affecting it is to give us lovable characters and then see how the situation changed them. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society is full of such characters – I worried that there were so many letter-writers, but they swiftly became identifiable and dear to me. Above all else, the novel is warm, funny and lovingly written. Bloomsbury plan a large-scale advertising campaign for this novel when it is published in August (sorry! you’ll have to wait) and no novel deserves it more – it is sad that Shaffer passed away before she could see her novel published, but she died knowing that it would be, which must have been a great joy.
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society is something special – Juliet Ashton is a protagonist with just the right levels of humour, fondness and self-deprecation (‘Oh, I can see it all now: no one will buy my books, and I’ll ply Sidney with tattered, illegible manuscripts, which he’ll pretend to publish out of pity. Doddering and muttering, I’ll wander the streets carrying my pathetic turnips in a string bag, with newspaper tucked into my shoes’.) The characters are an ensemble cast, you’ll love the lot of ’em, and fall in love with Guernsey too. I confidently predict that potato peel pie will be plat du jour up and down the country all August. Maybe.
Oh my goodness – that sounds wonderful! I’ll have to keep an eye out for it, although with that title, I’m unlikely to forget about it!
I’m all about potatoes. :<) Seriously, thank you for the review. I must read it.
So glad and happy that you loved this book as much as I did. All the time I was reading it I kept thinking ‘Simon will love this’. Thank goodness I was right…
Sad that it is just a one off but means it is to be cherished all the more
You know me so well, Elaine! I’m sure this book will be a big success – we must make sure we remind people about it when it comes out!
Sounds wonderful. I agree, any bloke that boxes your novels up to replace them with sporting trophies has got to go! looking forward to it being published – do remind us please.
Added to my list of books to look out for. Nothing like starting a list for August in June. LOL. How terribly sad that the author has died before her book was published though.
I saw Elaine’s review, too, and had to request it at the library. I didn’t realize it wasn’t coming out until August…now have to wait…I started watching a BBC miniseries about the occupation of–at least I think it’s Guernsey–(is it part of the Channel Islands?), but some parts were slightly unpleasant, so I haven’t yet gotten the next disc. I’m really looking forward to the book, though.
I also loved this book and can’t wait for it to be released so I can give it away as a gift to as many people as possible. I grinned at Juliet’s decision to dump the fiance who replaced her books with trophies, and I know I would have done the same thing. The book made me want to be her friend, and there’s not much higher praise than that. I’ve also reviewed it on my blog: http://readerville.wordpress.com
I’m so pleased that you enjoyed this book! Mary Ann Shaffer was my mother. She was an amazing woman with a wry sense of humor – much of which translates into this book. She passed away before realizing the true impact of this book, but it thrills me to know that she lives on in every page, every sentence, every word.
Hello Morgan, how very kind of you to comment – your mother’s book is truly wonderful, and I wish it all the success it deserves. You must be very proud.
MorganM,
I was truly saddened to learn your mother had passed away and we aren’t going to get any ore of these delightful books from her pen. I loved it (gush, gush), and am telling everyone I know. Do you have any idea what was on HER favorite books list?
Best,
Joni
Dear Joni (Anonymous),
I really have to apologize for taking such a long time to respond to you.
The odd thing is, we actually have a list of my mom's favorite books, but it took me a while to locate it. And, because you asked such a perfectly unique question, I wanted to make sure it was answered properly!
My mother was an avid, voracious reader. Never without a book in her hand – everywhere she went. (She was a librarian so her choices were endless.)
You may be sorry you asked, but here they are (in no particular order):
Time and Again
A Very Long Engagement
Corelli's Mandolin
Angle of Repose
Atticus
Flaubert's Parrot
Covenant with Death
In the Time of Butterflies
Women of the Silk
The Samurai's Garden
Birdsong
If a Lion Could Talk
My Antonia
Brideshead Revisited
The Pursuit of Love
(is it time to rest, get a glass of milk, make a potato peel pie?)
Straight Man
The Playmaker
A Dry White Season
House of Sand & Fog
A Gesture Life
English Passengers
The Human Stain
Fall of a Sparrow
Black Dogs
Possession
Raj
The Shell Seekers
Colony
A Prayer for Owen Meany
Cold Mountain
Poisonwood Bible
There you have it! My mother loved to recommend books, so I hope you find at least one that brings you enjoyment.
Morgan M.
Thank you so much for posting this, Joni – tomorrow I’ll copy it up to a new blog post, if that’s ok? I’m sure so many people would be interested to read about your mother’s favourite books.