The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
By Ashley Simpson Shires, Special to the Rocky
Published August 7, 2008 at 7 p.m.
* Fiction. By Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows. Bantam Dell Books, $22. Grade: B-
Plot in a nutshell: This novel begins just after World War II as Juliet Ashton, a famous British writer, goes on a book tour. Her lighthearted column, Izzy Bickerstaff Goes to War, has been published as a collection and is selling like hot cakes. But now that the war is over, Juliet has to find a new writing project.
She hits pay dirt in an intriguing and unexpected correspondence with the residents of the island of Guernsey. German troops occupied Guernsey during the war, and the residents regale Juliet with harrowing and heartbreaking stories, perfect fodder for her next book.
To facilitate the writing of the book, Juliet plans to travel to Guernsey for an indefinite period of time. She's falling in love with one of her pen pals, a quiet, mysterious bachelor on the island. She must choose between this unassuming man (a pig farmer) and Mark Reynolds, the dashing American publisher who's been relentlessly pursuing her in London.
Sample of prose: "(Mark) is tall and handsome, with a crooked smile and a chiseled jaw. He shoulders his way through the crowd, careless of the glances that follow him. He's impatient and magnetic, and when I go to powder my nose, I overhear other women talking about him. . . . If I were ever to fall off a horse, it would be lovely to be picked up by Mark, but I don't think I'm likely to fall off a horse any time soon. I'm much more likely to go to Guernsey and write a book about the Occupation, and Mark can't abide the thought. He wants me to stay in London and go to restaurants and theaters and marry him like a reasonable person."
Pros: The details about Guernsey during the Occupation are fascinating. The residents tell traumatic stories of sending their children away before the German invasion - not knowing whether they will ever see them again. They bear witness to Hitler's slave workers on Guernsey, men and boys from occupied territories all over Europe, living in open pens and dying of starvation and exhaustion. But they also tell stories of individual and heartbreaking German kindnesses.
Cons: The novel's story line is flimsy; Juliet's romantic endeavors aren't nearly as interesting as the historical background against which they're played. And the characters often feel contrived, serving only as a means to relate the authors' extensive research into the Occupation.
Final word: The true heart of the novel lies in the Guernsey residents' experiences, their tales of unimaginable hardship and resilience. Unfortunately, that's not quite enough to redeem this deeply flawed plot.
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