The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, an unusual novel with an unusual name, was also written by an unusual duo, an aunt-niece team comprised of Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows. The book was the brainchild of Shaffer, but when she became too ill to continue the project, she enlisted the help of her niece, Barrows, a writer of children’s stories. (Sadly, Shaffer died shortly after Guernsey’s publication.) Together, Shaffer and Barrows crafted a novel which continues to be embraced by book clubs around the world.

Set in England just after the end of World War II, the story opens as Juliet Ashton, a twenty-something British writer, receives a letter from a stranger, Dawsey Adams, a farmer living on Guernsey, one of the Channel Islands occupied by the Germans during the war. It sparks a correspondence that leads eventually to Juliet’s visit to the island to gather stories about the occupation for her latest literary project. There, she learns about the heroic Elizabeth, credited with establishing the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. Though they never meet, Juliet finds herself drawn to Elizabeth’s strength of spirit and to the legacy that endures long after Elizabeth’s death.

The story unfolds by way of a series of letters written by a cast of quirky characters, allowing a wide range of voice as well as deep point of view. As each character delivers a new piece of the tale from his or her vantage point (and wrapped in his or her prejudices), we’re given intimate access to the characters’ motivations, foibles and idiosyncrasies…all that makes them unique and therefore interesting. While a novel of letters means a rather disjointed narrative and poses the challenge of sorting out who’s who and what’s what, especially at the start, it’s worth the effort. Elizabeth, though she remains off-stage for the duration, provides the glue that holds the story together, while a gently unfolding romance provides a hoped for and sweetly satisfying ending.