Juliet Ashton is a writer living in post-WWII London. She has lost her flat due to a bomb and is looking for her next literary inspiration when fate intervenes. She is sent a letter from Dawsey Adams of the island Guernsey who owns a book that used to belong to her and is asking her more about that author. As Juliet learns more about Dawsey, she realizes that Guernsey was under occupation during the war and the islanders had quite a difficult time during those years. Juliet asks Dawsey if he could get other islanders to write her about their experiences during the occupation and she slowly comes up with the idea for her book.

This book is written entirely as letters between the different characters. I usually find that this formatting doesn't give the reader enough detail but in this book that wasn't the case. One complaint I do have about the formatting of this book is that the book started out with letters to and from Juliet. By the end of the book it was only letters from Juliet. I believe there was still value in reading the letters written to Juliet and I missed those at the end of the book.

Given the formatting, I was surprised I enjoyed this as much as I did. I enjoyed the stories that the islanders gave about the occupation and how both the good and bad side was portrayed. There was a fair amount going on the book but everything wrapped up quite nicely by the end.

This is a very enjoyable and lovely story. Considering it's set during wartime, it's a calm story of grace and shared humanity and I thoroughly enjoyed it cover to cover. It's a small book, easily read in one night, and one you won't regret.

This book made me want to know the people. I want to go to Guernsey!. When I first opened the book, I thought I can't read this...its all letters. Oh was I wrong. I feel like it is a part of me now. I think I could read it once a month and love it just as much.

It took me quite awhile to finish this book. I ended up putting it down and picking it up several times. It's beautiful written, and I found when I did pick it up I was quite captured.... but it was not the kind of book that I kept me enrapt. It was historically enchanting in the sense that it brought you back to a time without all the modern technologies and forced you to just sit and enjoy the book. I wouldn't recommend it to people who don't love to read as they will put it down quite quickly, but if you are a hopeless romantic who enjoys drawn out story it's beautiful.

I enjoyed this book, but did not love it as so many others have. I find I enjoy most of Heather's Picks but do not necessarily love them all. Worth borrowing, not buying.

This book made me laugh and cry - I never wanted it to end. I still think about the characters from time to time and it's been over a year since I finished this novel. The format was a surprisingly smooth read and gave all the detail required to draw you in completely. I haven't missed an opportunity to endorse this book to everyone I know.

When I first heard that this novel was written as correspondence, I had serious doubts it would be able to not only hold my attention, but allow me to feel anything emotionally for the characters. I was so wrong. I just adored this book and completely fell in love with the folks on Guernsey Island. Schaffer's writing was unpretentious, but brilliant in it's simplicity, her cast of characters wholly developed, and the story captivated me from the start. I didn't want it to ever end. Lovely.

I enjoyed reading this book, it was almost whimsical for lack of a better word...which I realize makes no sense.
I think its the fact that you're reading letters and waiting for the response. The book gives you this old style feel. When I read the back of the book, I was drawn into the curiousity of simply writing a book in this way-communicating with letters. But the author did an amazing job without confusing the reader, and it turned out to be quite a good book.
Enjoy this book with a good lap quilt, a cup of tea, sitting by the window on a winter day ;)

I read this book for a book club and I throughly enjoyed it. If it wasn't for the book club, I wouldn't have picked this book to read.

It's witty, smart and just all around a really good book. I also like the fact that it was an easy book to read. I highly recommend this book to others!

This book was a wonderful combination of history, humour and human emotion. The description and history of the island of Guernsey during World War II was an enlightening look back in time. The addition of a group of colourful characters, each with their own rich personality added to the wonderful telling of a humourous and heart warming story. I enjoyed reading about each character and how they grew to know each other. Overall, a very enjoyable book to read.

It was a really good read. I never wanted to put it down, and it always kept me hooked.
Reading only letters was very cool, there was never very much description so it left a lot up to your imagination.
I never wanted it to end!!!!

This books is so cute. That's the best descriptor. It is the story of a writer who moves to an island to learn more about the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. It is a story about the society's origina and the impact they have on the writer. Just cute!

I am not the kind of reader that slows herself down with a good book. And yet with this one, I had to put it down and walk away just to make this amazing book last longer.
The format of getting to know the characters through letters, was refreshing and endearing. read this book, you will regret it if you don't.

The idea of a novel in letters isn't new but the authors gave it an interesting twist in the variety of letter-writers and their different personalities shining out of their letters. The German occupation of Guernsey, and the cruelty and deprivations suffered by its people, are central to the story, and although the plot includes some shocks and tragedy there are some wonderful moments. An unbelievable and unnecessary sub-plot involving a famous person's letters spoils the latter part of the book, in the middle of a section dealing with a labour camp survivor - imagine one of the Keystone Cops invading one of Elie Wiesel's haunting works - and a section that briefly abandons the letter format doesn't quite work, but this is still a book to enjoy. Now I want to research Guernsey and see it for myself.

This book was hard to get into because of all the letters but once in I jumped all the way. A great story with vibrant characters.

Every book lover needs to read this wonderful book.

Not at all what I expected, this novel was charming, interesting, and I could not put it down. At first I thought the format (letters written between the different characters) was cute/different but I feared it would be boring. It wasn't boring at all!! I loved the story and the letters brought the characters to life. Definitely recommend!

When I first started this book, I was a little unsatisfied, specially after reading good reviews, but after the first 20 pages I just couldn't stop. This book is great, but make sure you have time to read it, because you won't be able to take a break.

Reason for Reading: I've wanted to read this since the minute it came out! The title is the first thing that grabbed my interest then of course all the positive reviews. Somehow the book just kept getting pushed further down my tbr pile until finally it rose to the top when it was randomly selected as my final book for the Random Reading Challenge.

I'll keep this review short since there are hundreds, make that thousands of reviews already online. I feel like I may be the last book blogger to read this book! As anyone who reads my reviews regularly might have guessed: how could I not have absolutely loved it! Everything I enjoy in this type of book is present here, historical fiction written as a collection of letters with a cast of eccentric characters. Perfection! I just love epistolary novels and they read so fast it is almost impossible to put the book down. Each and every single character was a dear and getting to know them through someone's letters somehow seems so personal and insightful. I loved everyone though I must say Dawsey and Isola were my favourites.

As to the historical content, while the book takes place one year after the war it often feels to be in the here and now as the letters are full of reminiscences of wartime experiences. I must say that even with all my reading of World War II, I had not known that the Channel Islands had been occupied. It didn't surprise me, tactically I can understand how the situation happened, but I'm surprised it has never been mentioned in my previous reading. It was an eye-opener for me and I'm now quite interested in finding out more about the occupation and the experiences of people from different points of view.

A delightful little book, that is a quick read with dramatic, tragic, romantic and comedic moments to be found throughout. A truly beautiful book not to be missed!

There's no other way to describe this book other than "lovely". It is beautifully written and will re-ignite your love of litterature (and the classics!). Shaffer successfully delivered a book about hope and friendship in a time where such were luxuries. The people of Guernsey will easily be the best friends you make this year!