Pandemic Book Club: Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

Hello readers!

The Pandemic Book Club discussion on The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society will begin at 4:00 pm EST today -- Saturday, March 28th.   In order to provide a little background and set the table for discussion I offer the following and will see you back here this afternoon at 4 pm EST.

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Mary Ann Shaffer was born in Martinsburg, West Virginia, in 1934.  Having grown up from the very beginning facing the threats of the Great Depression, growing fascism in Europe and eventually the difficulties and devastations of World War II, you would think that this is what shaped her decision to write about the island of Guernsey and the German occupation of it during the war.  But it was a whim that brought her to the subject of her novel:

She became interested in Guernsey while visiting London in 1976. On a whim, she decided to fly to Guernsey but became stranded there when a thick fog descended and all boats and planes were forbidden to leave the island. As she waited for the fog to lift, warming herself by the heat of the hand-dryer in the men’s restroom, she read all the books in the Guernsey airport bookstore, including Jersey under the Jack-Boot. Thus began her fascination with the German Occupation of the Channel Islands.

Over the course of her lifetime, Mary Ann worked as a book store clerk, a librarian and even as an editor for a small press publisher.  She was an avid participant in a book club of local friends, who met regularly to discuss favorite books they had been reading and to debate which book of the moment they should read next.  She folded her own experiences and her deep love of a good book into The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, which you can see throughout the book, which her book club was instrumental in getting her to write:


Many years later, when goaded by her book club to write a novel, Mary Ann naturally thought of Guernsey. She chose to write in the epistolary form because, “for some bizarre reason, I thought it would be easier.” Several years of work yielded The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, which was greeted with avid enthusiasm, first by her family, then by her writing group, and finally by publishers around the world.

Sadly, Mary Ann’s health began to decline shortly thereafter, and she asked her niece, Annie Barrows (author of the Ivy and Bean series for children, as well as The Magic Half ), to help her finish the book. Mary Ann died in February 2008, knowing that her novel was to be published in English and in translation in many languages throughout the world.

Mary Ann was diagnosed with cancer as she neared completion of her book, and her niece was asked to help her bring the book to its finish.  Sadly, she did not live to see its publication, or how much it has been loved around the world since it hit the bookshelves.  It was Mary Ann's first novel.

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society is a love letter of sorts, written by an avid reader to the books she has enjoyed through the years.  It is a testament to how good literature can help us escape life's difficulties for a little while, and how talking about it with others can help the whole group to step outside their everyday lives and into something extraordinary and above the craziness that life tends to throw at us.  (Which is exactly why I thought this book would be perfect to start things off for the Pandemic Book Club!)

Early in the book, in Juliet's January 15th, 1946, letter to Dawsey, she says:

"Perhaps there is some secret sort of homing instinct in books that brings them to their perfect readers.  How delightful if that were true....That's what I love about reading: one tiny thing will interest you in a book, and that thing will lead you onto another book, and another bit will lead you onto a third book.  It's geometrically progressive -- all with no end in sight, and for no other reason than sheer enjoyment."

That perfectly describes the relationship with books that I have had since I learned to read.  Hopefully, it describes how you feel about books as well.  It is a sort of alchemy that brings together a book with just the right mix of intriguing story, well-drawn characters with depth and mystery, and a dash of whatever it is that hits us right in our souls.  The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society is just that sort of book, showing us all how that bond we form with a good book and with each other as we talk about it can lift us out of our weary day to day and into a world where we share a bond that lights our way even in the darkest times.  I love that.

Some questions to think about:

1.  What did you think about the epistolatory style of the book -- written as a series of letters instead of in a more traditional narrative format?  Do you think it served the book better and was a good conscious choice of the authors, or did you find it difficult?

2.  We discover early on that Juliet has lost her own family, and has formed a second family of sorts in Sidney and Sophie.  How does that shape her, do you think, and how closely can we bond to friends who become our family?  Is that sometimes a tighter bond because we choose it?  Or do you think that warps Juliet's perspective a bit along the way?

3.  What did you think about the island of Guernsey as we see it in the novel?  Is that some place you would like to visit, having read this book?

4.  In what ways do books bond people in this novel?

5.  What did you think of Dawsey?  How was he different from the other men in Juliet's life?

6.  Do you think reading about the horrors of the German occupation and the experiences that the inhabitants of Guernsey had during the war was enhanced by reading it in letter format?  Did that make the information seem more personal and help it come to life more, as if it were in a letter written to you by an old friend?

7.  In what ways were Elizabeth and Juliet kindred spirits?  Do you think their similarities helped the islanders bond more closely with Juliet?

8.  Juliet occasionally receives mean-spirited notes from island residents about herself and others on the island.  What motivated these?  What lessons do the authors want us to learn from this?

9.  Juliet is dealing with attentions from several men in the book, which are placed throughout the narrative as potential suitors or friends.  What traditionally makes a man a "great catch?"  What do Juliet's choices in this novel tell you about her priorities for her own life?

10.  Do you agree with Isola that "reading good books ruins you for reading bad ones?"

Random House has a lovely web page devoted to the book that is worth perusing.  There is quite a bit of background on the authors and the novel, and even a recipe for Potato Peel Pie which, quite honestly, does not sound particularly delicious.

I'll see everyone at 4:00 pm EST for our book discussion right here and on facebook.  Can't wait!