The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

The odd title to this posting is the title of a book. That's the book we read, for book club. We met at at Betty Villiard's last night. Not many of us showed up. It was good, though; only four of us, and for a change we all read the book--even Betty. Betty only reads "far out" stuff. She likes science fiction, which I abhor. I consider that little science and poor fiction. But she's a retired biology and physics teacher, and I'm English/history. Go figure.

The title the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society needs explanation. You see the setting takes places on the island of Guernsey, which is off the coast of England. During WWII the island was occupied by the Germans; this fact adds immensely to the story. BTW, the book's format is letters. That's correct--LETTERS! The book is a collection of letters written during the occupation of Guernsey and after. Shortages of food were prevalent during the German occupation; which is why the Society used potato peels for pie crust, instead of pie crust made from flour, eggs, etc.

The Guernsey Literary Society started as a "front" to offer support for the islanders, but developed into a bona fide literary society.

What am I telling you the story for? Read it. You'll love it. And the little that I've told you is not the major theme, anyway. It's a love story. You'll love every single character in the book. Even Betty, who doesn't read normal books (IMHO) loved this book. She read it TWICE and before we left, last night, she said that we had whetted her appetite to read it AGAIN!