Celebrating literature, love, and the power of the human spirit,
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
is the story of an English author living in the shadow of World War
II-and embarking on a writing project that will dramatically change
her life. Unfolding in a series of letters, this enchanting novel
introduces readers to the indomitable Juliet Ashton. Through
Juliet's correspondence with her publisher, best friend, and an
absorbing cast of characters, readers discover that despite the
personal losses she suffered in the Blitz, and author tours
sometimes marked by mishaps, nothing can quell her enthusiasm for
the written word. One day, she begins a different sort of
correspondence, responding to a man who found her name on the
flyleaf of a cherished secondhand book. He tells her that his name
is Dawsey Adams, a native resident of Guernsey, one of the Channel
Islands recently liberated from Nazi occupation. Soon Juliet is
drawn into Dawsey's remarkable circle of friends, courageous men
and women who formed the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie
Society as a cover to protect them from the Germans. With their
appetite for good books, and their determination to honor the
island's haunting recent history, this is a community that opens
Juliet's heart and mind in ways she could never have
imagined.
The questions and discussion topics that follow are intended to
enhance your reading of Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows's
Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. We
hope they will enrich your experience of this captivating
novel.
1. What was it like to read a novel composed entirely of
letters? What do letters offer that no other form of writing (not
even emails) can convey?
2. What makes Sidney and Sophie ideal friends for Juliet? What
common ground do they share? Who has been a similar advocate in
your life?
3. Dawsey first wrote to Juliet because books, on Charles Lamb
or otherwise, were so difficult to obtain on Guernsey in the
aftermath of the war. What differences did you note between
bookselling in the novel and bookselling in your world? What makes
book lovers unique, across all generations?
4. What were your first impressions of Dawsey? How was he
different from the other men Juliet had known?
5. Discuss the poets, novelists, biographers, and other writers
who capture the hearts of the members of the Guernsey Literary and
Potato Peel Pie Society. What does a reader's taste in books say
about his or her personality? Whose lives were changed the most by
membership in the society?
6. Juliet occasionally receives mean-spirited correspondence
from strangers, accusing both Elizabeth and Juliet of being
immoral. What accounts for their judgmental ways?
7. In what ways were Juliet and Elizabeth kindred spirits? What
did Elizabeth's spontaneous invention of the society, as well as
her brave final act, say about her approach to life?
8. Numerous Guernsey residents give Juliet access to their
private memories of the occupation. Which voices were most
memorable for you? What was the effect of reading a variety of
responses to a shared tragedy?
9. Kit and Juliet complete each other in many ways. What did
they need from each other? What qualities make Juliet an
unconventional, excellent mother?
10. How did Remy's presence enhance the lives of those on
Guernsey? Through her survival, what recollections, hopes, and
lessons also survived?
11. Juliet rejects marriage proposals from a man who is a
stereotypical "great catch." How would you have handled Juliet's
romantic entanglement? What truly makes someone a "great
catch"?
12. What was the effect of reading a novel about an author's
experiences with writing, editing, and getting published? Did this
enhance the book's realism, though Juliet's experience is a bit
different from that of debut novelist Mary Ann Shaffer and her
niece, children's book author Annie Barrows?
13. What historical facts about life in England during World War
II were you especially surprised to discover? What traits, such as
remarkable stamina, are captured in a detail such as potato peel
pie? In what ways does fiction provide a means for more fully
understanding a non-fiction truth?
14. Which of the members of the Society is your favorite? Whose
literary opinions are most like your own?
15. Do you agree with Isola that "reading good books ruins you
for enjoying bad ones"?