The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows
22/60 | Started 05.09.23 • Finished 05.15.23 | 4 stars
A delight to read! This tale of a frustrated writer who finds herself drawn from London to a literary society on the tiny island of Guernsey was incredibly entertaining.
I can’t think of anything lonelier than spending the rest of my life with someone I can’t talk to, or worse, someone I can’t be silent with.
The novel is uniquely narrated through the letters and telegrams passed between different characters. I enjoyed all of the characters so much - learning their personalities and quirks, their desires and let-downs, the experiences they were willing to share - all was a pleasure. I think each character was given its own slight voice through the writing style of his/her letters; maybe there could have been a stronger differentiation. I felt like it all moved along at a good pace, not getting bogged down in details or needless storytelling. And I loved how the romance of the story came about organically, without any innuendo - I'm not a big romance person but I found this really well done.
We clung to books and to our friends; they reminded us that we had another part to us.
I do think the ending happened a little abruptly and for that and the writing differences I docked a star. My understanding is that the author had a health issue during the finishing touches of the book and had to have another writer step in to finish it. I wonder if that truncated the book at all. Anyway. Definitely give this one a read if you like historical fiction and if you like a good love story without all the sappy romance. (Also, the movie did come out and from what I've heard it's pretty good!)
Remy watched the sea breathe in and out. Then she said, “It would have been better for her not to have such a heart.” Yes, but worse for the rest of us.
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