Readers' Review: "The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society" by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows
http://thedianerehmshow.org/shows/2011-08-24/readers-review-guernsey-literary-and-potato-peel-pie-society-mary-ann-shaffer-and-a
For this month's Readers' Review, we chose a novel set in Britain's island of Guernsey. The action takes place during and just after World War II. The authors - an aunt and her niece - tell a heart-warming and harrowing tale of life under Nazi Occupation. One night, as an alibi to avoid punishment for breaking curfew, a book club is born. The novel unfolds in a series of letters between a London writer, her publisher and the earthy, resilient people of Guernsey. It describes how war affects individuals - aggressors and victims. And how literature can heal even the most wounded spirits.
Guests
Peter Reid
vice president, communications, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars; former head of communications for the British Embassy in Washington.
Lynn Neary
NPR correspondent covering books and publishing.
Nicholas Basbanes
lecturer and author of numerous books, including the forthcoming "Common Bond," a cultural history of paper and papermaking.
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Program Highlights
What lengths will people go to to save others - and themselves - in wartime? "The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society" celebrates the power of humanity as well as the written word.
- Neary:"I knew less than nothing about the Channel Islands, less than nothing about Guernsey and nothing about the occupation, at all. And so suddently, [the book] opened up this window into history that I knew nothing about and that was fascinating."
- Rehm:"The sad part of this is that Mary Ann Shaffer, who originally worked on the novel, wrote the novel, found herself extremely ill and when the book came back from the publisher for revisions, she turned to her niece, who was and is a children's literary writer, and her niece, Annie Barrows, finished the book for her. But the afterward, when she writes about moving into her aunt's voice, was so touching."
- Reid:"Ultimately, this isn't about the plot or the characters, it's about the power of books to bring us together to make us think more, talk more, argue, make up. And they have some hysterical scenes at the book club where they choose these weird books, fall out about them, then they go off to the pub to make up in one instance and so forth."
- Melody:"I think that it also was just a superlative book because it was, you might say, a successful morality tale or a successful literary venture that produced the argument and the reality that good really is more powerful than evil or at least can be more powerful than evil."
- Reid:"The amount of research that must've gone into finding those little nuggets of what happened at the time, what island life was like at the time, what the war - effect the war had on people, must've been enormous. And I think it comes together as a lovely backdrop to this key message that's in there."
Read an Excerpt
Excerpted from "The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society" by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows. Copyright 2009 by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows. Excerpted here by kind permission of Random House:
Comments
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My book club, The Wesley Chapel (NC) G.R.I.T.S. (Girls Reading In The South) won the "Take Your Book Club to Guernsey Contest" in October 2009. We were treated to a 4-day 3-night trip of a lifetime to Guernsey where we met with the winning book club from the U.K. We toured the island including stops at The Little Chapel, St. Peter Port, the Liberation Memorial and Victor Hugo's house. But the highlight of the trip was meeting several of the survivors of the occupation who were children at the time and are now in their 70s and 80s. Some of them stayed on the island and others were sent to England for those five long years. To get first-hand knowledge and stories of what is was like to live through this time in history was truly remarkable. Seeing the beautiful island in person and meeting such wonderful people brought the novel to life for us. I could actually imagine Juliet, Kit and Dawsey walking those very streets.
I read this book not long after its publication. It was WONDERFUL!!! The epistle style was so innovative as a story-telling process I could not put it down. I was so anxious to "meet" the girl who fell in love with the German soldier and felt a loss at her passing. The book has not left me as I think on it from time to time and I have passed it on to a number of friends. I just loved it. Thanks for your great program.
I saw it in my daughter's bookcase, and pulled it out of curiosity. I was still reading when she came home, and had to read aloud to her. My heart was so full. I saw each character in my minds eye, and held them for a long time after. And to think, I'd passed it by before because the title didn't appeal to me. 'Tis true, 'you cannot judge a book by it's cover'.
We used to wrangle a pass to slip away to the Holiday Inn on Gibralter JUST to watch 'Guernsey'. Great tv show. Too sophisticated for American audience.
Must try the book... if our library ever reopens. Thank God we are fighting the deficit by closing unnecessary public services.
I thought this novel was charming. The historical situation of Guernsey was unique and unfamiliar and I thought the look into the lives of ordinary people during this extraordinary time was remrakable. The characters were believable for a topic that has become so written about that it can fall into cliche. The writing was powerful yet subtle. Also, the evolving love story was sweet and satisfying.
This is one of my favorite books in the world!! A wonderful, engaging, sweet story - and very informative about a period of war history that few really know that much about. I highly recommend it!
I loved this book. I was a little girl in London during WW2 and was an evacuee to the East coast also. I intend sharing this with my book club shortly. I found a recipe on food.com submitted by a member of potato peel pie and I'm going to try it and, if o.k., plan on taking it to our meeting.
The TODT organization was named after the engineer who directed it.
Found this marvelous book through the Amazon recommendation after buying several copies of "84 Charing Cross Road". The title did throw me off but I love, love, love this book. When she writes about being caught by the throat from Kathy's scratching in "Wuthering Heights", that is how I felt with the vivid description of the children leaving the island. The years of horror of watching the German planes heading for Britain was palpable. Thanks for reviewing this book and thanks for your terrific shows.
Dear DIane and guests,
I read and thoroughly enjoyed the book, which was truly lovely, but I'd actually previously read another book about Guernsey, both before and after the war, that was, frankly, head and shoulders above it in depth, breadth, story, language and narrative. It's "The Book of Ebenezer LePage" by G.B. Edwards. As I recall it, the manuscript of the book was found under the deathbed of Edwards in Brighton (or a similar coastal town), and it was posthumously published under the sponsorship of John Fowles. Fowles, in fact, wrote a glowing forward about the book. I think it must date back to the mid-1960s. It purports to be the autobiography of Guernseyman Ebenezer LePage, who relates his story and the history of the island from his earliest memory - of his father leaving in uniform to fight in the Boer War - through World War I, the World War II occupation, and to the dramatic changes in the island in the 1960s. The use of language, as if he were an unlettered farmer, the power of the narrative, the impact of his personal story, remain with me at least 20 years later. Are any of you familiar with this, at one time, popular novel? It is sadly out of print, but clearly it's something that pairs well with The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society.
Paul Taskier (pronounced Tass-key-yay, as in the French)
Washington, DC
My college friends and I get together once a year. When this book came out, we were having our reunion at DeBordieu, SC. Of course, we had delightful discussions about this book. When we returned home, one of our creative friends sent out notepads with a logo of a shrimp reading a book. The title encircling the shrimp was "DeBordieu Ladies' Reading and Shrimp Peeling Society"!!
The subject of the evacuation of children is covered in Phil Robins' book Can I Come Home, Please? I picked that up on a recent trip to the UK so I don't know if it's available here.
Someone commented on how isolated Guernsey had been at the time. What the authors do is create not only a dialogue among the islanders, but among writers and books of all ages. We call this in literary terms "intertextuality" -- and in view of the fact that two writers were responsible for finishing the book just adds to sense of communication across the channels, across the centuries --and even across the divide of life and death.
Sadly, the ability to tell a story or re-visit times in our lives though letters is taking a back seat to e-mails, twittters and voice mail! Perhaps reading the letters in The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society will spark a renewed interest in folks to pick up a pen and write to friends and family! I so miss the joy of going to the mailbox and finding an actual envelope, one containing a letter to read, re-read and keep forever! Thanks you for todays show and for highlighting such a wonderful book!
Years ago I read a very low-key and entirely remarkable novel set in Guernsey, The Book of Ebenezer Le Page by Gerald Basil Edwards. It covers a period from the late nineteenth century through the 1960s. Has anyone read it recently? How do the novels compare?
Double posted. New to comments. Can't find delete option. Sorry!
This was a most enjoyable book and a peek into time. Ever a person to eat and drink history I was fascinated by the realism in this book. I got to know people and was so disappointed when I turned the last page. When I finished I shared it, those people shared it, and finally, 15 months later I got it back. No one wanted to give it up.
I have placed going to Guermsey on my bucket list.
I first heard of Pot Peel Society several weeks ago when folks were calling in to your program with their favorite books. A woman called, describing it, leading me to buy and read a copy.
It is an excellent read and I highly recommend it.
I'll try this book, though the cutesy title a la Alexander McCall Smith puts me off. I have a hard time thinking that it can surpass The Book of Ebenezer Le Page, which I see several other listeners also liked. Listening to today's discussion reminded me of a novel I had read as a teenager, about a secret operation to rescue cows from the Channel Islands during the German occupation. I had to use Wikipedia to recover the title: Appointment with Venus, by Jerrard Tickall, 1951.
One caller asked about Miles Davis and "Green Dolphin Street." Miles has a great version and many other jazz artists have recorded it, but the composer is Bronislaw Kaper, for the 1947 movie of the same name, based on the Elizabeth Goudge novel.
Diane mentioned today during the show that several listeners recommended a TV series called "Island at War", which I think was aired around 1996. A much finer (in my opinion at least) TV series was produced in two parts - 1978 and 1980 - called "Enemy at the Door", with over 20 episodes. Both series are available on DVD in the UK and US.
My grandmother was one of those Guernsey residents deported to Biberach during the war, with her second husband. They both survived and returned to the islands.
The Book of Ebenezer le Page: there are plenty of new and used copies available through Amazon.
I was thinking about Ebenezer Le Page as well throughout their discussion. It is on my top five best novels list. The reason I have not read Potato book is because I was quite certain it could not compare to Edwards' novel. I may have to give it a try now.