The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

I am definitely attracted to most books by a catchy title or cover ( typical cover judger!).
I have to say at first the title of this book made me say "huh?" and it starts a little slow too, which does not help. Then, the story envelopes you. As you begin to read a book that's all letters, it's hard to see how it will come together. Then, about 40 pages in the characters feel like old friends. The premise is there is a famous columnist. Juliet, in London who begins to correspond with the members of a literary society in Guernsey, an island that is part of England, which was overtaken by the Nazi Germans in the 1940's. The islanders begin to share some of their stories and experiences with her via letters, and she begins to want to know more and more about them. This leads her to visit the island... and well...no spoilers here!!

There is a perfect mix of the humorous, heartbreaking, and bittersweet- you feel like you are there. Who does not want a book to do that? The story more than comes together, it warms you and makes you admire the perseverance of all those who lived through German occupancy.

I highly recommend it. In fact, so much so that I even sent my out of town best friend a copy of the book, a letter, and a pack of stationary to go "old school" to try to keep in touch better.

I had the, er, pleasure of tasting potato peel pie. This is the "dessert" spoken of in the book- served at the literary meetings during the occupation and made of the only food they had- potatoes and beets with a potato peel pie crust. At my book group our host made one. It was not as bad as one might think, but boy was I glad we had a 7 layer German Chocolate Cake too!