Book 17 of 52: The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

 

This was another stellar recommendation from my colleague Michelle and the third book I read during my vacation. I didn't realize the book was entirely in the format of letters written between the characters. I found this format very hard to read at first. I had trouble following the characters and the letters weren't giving me enough information to really understand the eessence of the characters. But I stuck with it, as I suspected it would get better and I would get used to the style. I was glad I did! What a delightful and inspiring book. It really piacked up in the second half.

Did you know that during World War II the Germans occupied Guernsey in the Channel Islands? Despite both sides of my grandparents living throught WWII in England and a couple of high school courses in English history (when I lived in New Zealand), I didn't know this. The Germans built heavy fortifications against the islanders, built a concentration camp on Guernsey, and Guernsey's children were evacuated to England. I just cannot fathom sending my two little boys off to another family, hundreds of miles away to care for them and not knowing how they are growing up.

I enjoyed the wonderful Islander characters, learned some history, and the underlying love story was just the frosting on the cake. If you can get used to the letter/correspondence format and stick with it, this book is well worth it! I feel like if I was to get a plane ticket over the Guernsey right now I'd find all the characters of the book alive and well, and they would greet me like a long lost friend.