The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society: A Novel
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The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society: A Novel Audible Audiobook – Unabridged

Mary Ann Shaffer (Author), Annie Barrows (Author), Paul Boehmer (Narrator),
4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 38,922 ratings
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Number-one New York Times Best Seller

Now a Netflix Film

A remarkable tale of the island of Guernsey during the German Occupation, and of a society as extraordinary as its name.

“Treat yourself to this book, please - I can’t recommend it highly enough.” (Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat, Pray, Love)

“I wonder how the book got to Guernsey? Perhaps there is some sort of secret homing instinct in books that brings them to their perfect readers.”

January 1946: London is emerging from the shadow of the Second World War, and writer Juliet Ashton is looking for her next book subject. Who could imagine that she would find it in a letter from a man she’s never met, a native of the island of Guernsey, who has come across her name written inside a book by Charles Lamb....

As Juliet and her new correspondent exchange letters, Juliet is drawn into the world of this man and his friends - and what a wonderfully eccentric world it is. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society - born as a spur-of-the-moment alibi when its members were discovered breaking curfew by the Germans occupying their island - boasts a charming, funny, deeply human cast of characters, from pig farmers to phrenologists, literature lovers all. Juliet begins a remarkable correspondence with the society’s members, learning about their island, their taste in books, and the impact the recent German occupation has had on their lives. Captivated by their stories, she sets sail for Guernsey, and what she finds will change her forever.

Written with warmth and humor as a series of letters, this novel is a celebration of the written word in all its guises and of finding connection in the most surprising ways.

Praise for The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society

“A jewel... Poignant and keenly observed, Guernsey is a small masterpiece about love, war, and the immeasurable sustenance to be found in good books and good friends.” (People)

“A book-lover’s delight, an implicit and sometimes explicit paean to all things literary.” (Chicago Sun-Times)

“A sparkling epistolary novel radiating wit, lightly worn erudition and written with great assurance and aplomb.” (The Sunday Times [London])

“Cooked perfectly à point: subtle and elegant in flavour, yet emotionally satisfying to the finish.” (The Times [London])

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  1. Listening Length
    8 hours and 6 minutes
  2. Author
    Mary Ann Shaffer, see all
  3. Narrator
    Paul Boehmer, see all
  4. Audible release date
    September 2, 2008
  5. Language
    English
  6. Publisher
    Random House Audio
  7. ASIN
    B001FVJIN8
  8. Version
    Unabridged
  9. Program Type
    Audiobook
  10. See all details
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Product details

Listening Length 8 hours and 6 minutes
Author Mary Ann Shaffer, Annie Barrows
Narrator Paul Boehmer, Susan Duerden, Rosalyn Landor, John Lee, Juliet Mills
Whispersync for Voice Ready
Audible.com Release Date September 02, 2008
Publisher Random House Audio
Program Type Audiobook
Version Unabridged
Language English
ASIN B001FVJIN8
Best Sellers Rank #4,755 in Audible Books & Originals (See Top 100 in Audible Books & Originals)
#31 in World War II Historical Fiction (Audible Books & Originals)
#70 in World War II Historical Fiction (Books)
#208 in 20th Century Historical Fiction (Books)

Customer reviews

4.6 out of 5 stars
4.6 out of 5
38,922 global ratings
Amazing book!
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Amazing book!
I love this book! This book really made me excited to read! I would recommend to those looking for a good book! 😊
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Top reviews from the United States

David Island
5.0 out of 5 stars The Lost Art of Letter Writing
Reviewed in the United States on May 12, 2009
Verified Purchase
Gorgeous book - simply gorgeous. One moment you're laughing. The next, crying, but all the time absorbed and involved, just as main character Juliet was in the lives and persons of Guernsey, with whom she corresponded, then met, and then.................

I read it on airplanes and in New Orleans on holiday. Couldn't put it down - well, except between sips of red wine and forays into the French Quarter and finishing it on the descent back home to San Francisco.

How did these authoresses do it? Do what, you ask? Seduce me into caring intensely about these unlikely, ordinary/extraordinary characters through the medium of their letters.

This book is by women, about women (mainly), and probably for women. With so many spot on hilarious comments about men, why would a man read it? Easy answer: because "The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society" is probably the most charming story about the horrors and humors of World War II that anyone would have the privilege to read, especially those of us who pride ourselves on loving the small cadre of brilliant authors (almost all of whom are men) of that exalted era in history, during which time the forces of good actually won out over evil on a global scale.

Yes, the repulsive Nazis play a role here too, but are uplifted by one German man we never meet, Christian, whose unfolding subtle presence takes some of the edge off the monstrous and unforgivable. This one soldier, through his daughter Kit, 4 years old and growing into our beings, saves the entire German nation.

Whereas "If on a Winter's Night a Traveler" by Italo Calvino is about reading, this book is about writing. Its brilliance forms a revival - even if fictional - of the great art of letter writing - funny or nasty, crisp or rambling, to the point or vague, but always endearing. You know, the kind of letters you really wish you could write, maybe once did before e-mail ruined everything (including spelling), but especially those correspondences that simply demand an instant reply where you stopped everything, put pen to paper, dashed it off, sealed it into an envelope (with no copy made), and posted it forthwith.

There's only one point where the story is helplessly predictable - during the found Oscar Wilde papers, but even that stupendous episode is fun - no, its' greatly entertaining.

Hang in there for the first 50 pages, don't try to force a change in the perfect structure of the story, slow down and put yourself there --- 1946 right after the war -- on the only piece of UK soil ever to be occupied by Germans (for 5 years !!) as it recovers its soul. The Guernsey folks reminisce and tell their stories of those terrible and glorious 5 years. The 12 to 15 key players are all vivid, knowable and individual. Every character is clear and definitive. There's a believable story line centering on Juliet (an author who is not from Guernsey), as she accidentally discovers the path to writing her book about them and, coincidentally, the loves of her life.

Clever, engaging, emotional and bell-ringing clear, it's a 5.

While I knew these things about Guernsey already - that is, the bare facts about its subjugation for 5 years by Germans -- now I want to go there, and I will.
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Alpha Reader
5.0 out of 5 stars Feel better for having known these characters and their story.
Reviewed in the United States on May 28, 2012
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The year is 1946, and Miss Juliet Ashton is touring England to promote her book `Izzy Bickerstaff Goes to War'. Originally a serial that appeared in `Spectator' to lift spirits by taking a humorous look at the war, the book is now selling splendidly and Juliet finds herself a legitimate authoress. The only problem is that she doesn't have much of an idea for a second book. The war is over, but Juliet is struggling (with the rest of the nation) to forget the horrors. Her flat was bombed to bits in 1942, and Juliet finds herself displaced in a Chelsea rental. Ration cards are still in circulation, to begin helping all those displaced persons across Europe (and Juliet will admit; it sticks in her craw that some of those persons are German).

Waiting ever patiently for an idea to come to her is Juliet's dear friend and publisher, Sidney Stark (of Stephens & Stark Ltd.) who also happens to be the elder brother of her very best friend, Mrs Sophie Strachan. Ideas are even less forthcoming when rival American publishing tycoon, Markham V. Reynolds Junior takes to courting Miss Ashton - on the basis that she is the only woman to have ever made him laugh.

And then a letter arrives . . . a letter all the way from St. Martin's Parish, Guernsey - a small island (population approx 42,000) in the English Channel, between Weymouth in England and St. Malo in France.

The letter is from one Mr. Dawsey Adams, who just so happens to be in possession of a book by Charles Lamb called `Selected Essays of Elia', once owned by Juliet, and which luckily contained her old address in the jacket cover. Dawsey Adams has a favour to ask of Juliet - if she would kindly give him the name of a London bookshop who could find him more books by Charles Lamb, and perhaps a biography? You see, Mr Lamb's essays helped Dawsey a lot during the German's five-year occupation of Guernsey - and he credits the essayist, and his own `Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society', with keeping him sane during the war.

Never one to shy away from curiosity, Juliet replies with a Charles Lamb book for Dawsey, and burning questions about this Potato Peel Pie Society . . . thus opening a Pandora's box into the little channel island; its inhabitants, their stories, their bravery during the war and the books that they came to cherish.

Juliet starts receiving letters from all of the Guernsey Literary Society members. Amelia Maugery, whose stolen pig founded the Society. Eben Ramsey, who lost his daughter and son-in-law during the war, but who is now enjoying the return of his young grandson, Eli, after a five-year absence. Isola Pribby makes potions for the islanders, has a pet bird called Zenobia, and was haunted by `Wuthering Heights'. Juliet also receives cautionary letters from island busy-body and God-fearing woman, Adelaide Addison, who warns her against associating with such ragamuffins. During her letter-writing, Juliet also learns of Elizabeth McKenna . . . the Guernsey woman who thought up the literary society, and whose defiance of the German soldiers landed her in a concentration camp - she is still missing, but the islanders have hope that she will return - especially because her four-year-old daughter, Christina `Kit' awaits her return.

`The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society' was the 2008 bestseller from Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows. Told entirely in letter-format, the book has been an unmitigated success since its release - and in 2013 it will be turned into a film, to be directed by Kenneth Branagh and starring Kate Winslet.

Believe all the hype you read and hear about this book - it's all entirely true. If anything, it's understated. `The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society' has been on my radar for a few years now, and I'm ashamed to say I was only finally prompted into my reading when I heard that a movie was in the works. Regardless, this is one of those books that, no matter when or how you come to read it, you finish with the satisfactory and transcended feeling that you are better for having known these characters and their story.

The book is entirely in letter format. Beginning with Juliet's letter to her friend and publisher, Sidney Stark, lamenting her book tour that forces her to be outgoing and charming, and despairing at having no ideas for a second novel. When Dawsey Adams's serendipitous letter arrives from Guernsey (courtesy of an old book Juliet donated, now in his possession, which contained her London address on the cover) he unknowingly triggers a chain of events that will lead Juliet to Guernsey and a story all their own.

Through her correspondence with the various members of the town's Literary (and Potato Peel Pie) Society, Juliet begins piecing together the story of Guernsey's five long years under German occupation. The Channel Islands were among the first pieces of English soil to be conquered; much to Hitler's delight (he wrongly thought it would be a hop, skip, and a jump to London from the Channel). The Channel Islands were left defenceless by the British navy, who needed resources closer to home. Luckily, some children and mothers were successfully shipped off the island before the Germans arrived, and were placed in English homes for the duration of the war. What started as a friendly-enough occupation (despite two previous days of bombing) soon turned into a hellish enterprise. The Germans confiscated radios and cut phone cables - the islands were, literally, cut off from the rest of the world for five years. Then the Germans bought in Todt workers (prisoner slaves from all over Europe) - who were worked to death in fortifying the town against attack than never came. The Germans took the islander's food for their own, leaving them little provisions and towards the end of the war, starvation had set in. The price for stealing food or aiding Todt workers was imprisonment, concentration camp or death on the spot.

Through her correspondence, first with Dawsey then Amelia, Isola, Eben and eventually the majority of the islanders, Juliet learns that the founder of the Literary Society was one Elizabeth McKenna. Elizabeth hastily came up with the idea of a Literary Society one night when she and a number of its members were caught by German soldiers in town after curfew - she quickly scrambled a lie together about getting caught up in their reading - a lie that saved them from jail, or worse. They were made to register their club with the commandant, and what started as a ruse quickly progressed into saving grace for many of the Society's members.

Juliet learns of countless acts of heroism Elizabeth McKenna performed; from turning herself into a nurse, to helping hide a Todt worker from the Germans. And it was this last act of kindness that saw her shipped off to a concentration camp, yet to return to the island and her daughter, Kit . . . a daughter, Juliet comes to learn, whose father was a German doctor called Christian Hellman; one of the few well-liked officers on the island. And so Juliet comes to wait, with bated breath like the rest of the islanders, for Elizabeth's return. And in the meantime, she travels to Guernsey herself, to meet these people she has come to care about, and call friend, and perhaps tell a story or two about. . .

This book is a marvel. I had a bipolar reading experience with this one - laughing one moment and crying the next. Juliet is a wonderful narrator; in her early thirties, she's surprisingly relatable in her love life (between the swank American Mark Reynolds, and curiously shy Dawsey Adams) and hilarious in her private sufferings (which she shares with Sidney and Sophie - mostly about how scared she is to end up a cat lady spinster). But this is a book of many voices, and although Juliet is our primary narrator, with the majority of letters being to and from her, it's the islanders who often steal the spotlight.

Isola Pribby is hilarious in her potion-stirring, head-bump-reading ways. Adelaide Addison calls her the island witch, but Isola is just a flamboyant, overly curious gem who goes through a revelation when she reads `Pride and Prejudice' for the first time. Amelia Maugery is a character you'll wish could be your grandmother in real life - a straight-talking woman whose empathy and kindness knows no bounds. And Kit McKenna, Elizabeth's four-year-old daughter, has a glare like Medusa's and an enviably steely spine - one of the best child characters I have read.

Then there's Dawsey Adams - a man close to Juliet in age, he used to be the town recluse (partly because of his terrible stutter) but since meeting Juliet he has come more and more out of his shell, much to the delight of the Literary Society. He's a quiet but compelling man, whose presence commands any room he walks into, and who Juliet cannot help but fall for in the most delicious and heartfelt of romances.

This book is fascinating for the story of the Channel Islands occupation during WWII alone. But what I really loved was the many revelations and proclamations about books - their healing power, ability to bring people together and aid individuals through dark times.

I think Mary Ann Shaffer summarized the book best when she said in her afterword;

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I hope, too, that my book will illuminate my belief that love of art - be it poetry, storytelling, painting, sculpture, or music - enables people to transcend any barrier man has yet devised.
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Marvellous as this book is, equally interesting is its inception. Mary Ann Shaffer had the seed for the story planted in 198o, but she didn't finish writing it until 2008. Sadly, by the time the first manuscript was complete and sold, Shaffer fell ill. Her health would not permit her to finish the editorial and rewriting process, and so she handed the reigns over to her niece, Annie Barrows (author of the children's book series, `Ivy and Bean') who finished the book for her. Mary Ann Shaffer died in February 2008.

`The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society' is now one of my favourite books. It is a story about people overcoming adversity together, and with the aid of characters and authors - in books that helped lift their spirits and take them out of the drudgery and travesty of war. This book will be passed on to my friends and family, for I firmly believe in Juliet Ashton's prediction that "there is some secret sort of homing instinct in books that brings them to their perfect readers," - and I hope that such an instinct finds this book in your hands very soon indeed.
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Genaro Corona
5.0 out of 5 stars Excelente para viajar leyendo
Reviewed in Mexico on April 19, 2022
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Pocas veces se encuentra un libro que te lleve a viajar en cada una de sus páginas, lleno de personajes con distintos matices que no terminan de sorprenderte. Además al final del libro viene una historia sobre las escritoras de este libro explicando la creación de este que se me hizo simplemente hermosa.

Por mucho es mejor que la película.
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Zalewski Valerie
5.0 out of 5 stars A wonderful story
Reviewed in France on August 22, 2023
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This is a wonderful story of friendship and a very agreeable visit to Guernsey. I thoroughly recommend it to anyone who needs a heartwarming story.
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Joana Pirralho
5.0 out of 5 stars excelente
Reviewed in Spain on August 12, 2023
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tudo sem qualquer problema
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Sapna_Dreamz_Foreva
5.0 out of 5 stars Good Read I give it 5 stars *****
Reviewed in India on September 19, 2021
Verified Purchase
This book is an awesome read. I really liked it because it was interesting and funny, and sad too, and it was written in a flowing, easy to read way. I read it after hours in one week and really enjoyed myself.

Basically the book is about Juliet, an authoress and it is set in the post-WWII era. Juliet has written a biography about Ann Bronte and a book about WWII life as a fictitious person. The biography wasn't so successful but the second book she wrote, titled Izzy Bickerstaff Goes to War is a humorous take on war life, which was moderately successful. Well Juliet has had a failed engagement and starts to receive flowers from an unknown suitor. Later we find out the suitor is an American, a very rich guy named Mark. Juliet starts to receive letters from a resident of Guernsey who finds out her name in a book by Charles Lamb and there Juliet finds out about "The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society". The name and society was created incidentally. What happened was Dawsey and his friends had a secret party eating pig and if you google potato peel pie: quo-unquo "The potato peel pie is actually a true occupation recipe, which made the most of the limited ingredients available! By winter of 1944, Guernsey was on starvation rations with both locals and soldiers at risk" and one of the friends was drunk on the way home. At the time, Guernsey was under occupation by the German Nazis and so they were caught by the Commandant on the way home, whereupon Elizabeth and all of them make up the Society to escape inevitable punishment by the Nazis. Well, Juliet starts corresponding with the Guernsey residents and decides to write a book about them and their war years. Later on, she decides the book should be a biography style about Elizabeth, the Guernsey resident who died in a concentration camp. Mark and Juliet start dating and Mark asks Juliet to marry him but she says no. Then Juliet decides to visit Guernsey to learn more about the residents and the Society to write her next book on them. There she meets Kit, Elizabeth's child with Christian, a German soldier. They find out Elizabeth, who had been sent to Ravensbruck concentration camp due to sheltering someone from the Nazis has died in the concentration camp and also Christian had died (he dies when his warship gets sunk). Elizabeth's friend from the concentration camp named Remy, a French girl contacts the Guernsey crowd and informs them of Elizabeth's sad demise. Mark and Juliet break up. Juliet falls in love with the guy Kit calls "Dad", ie, Dawsey Adams but suspects Dawsey loves Remy instead. Remy receives an apprenticeship from the French government at a bakery, which was her dream. Juliet wants to adopt Kit and puts those wheels in motion. Juliet finds out Dawsey is secretly in love with her and asks him to marry her and he accepts.

The book is entirely in letters, telegrams and diary entries. It's a very hard way to write a book according to me but the author(s) write in a fun, witty and entertaining way and it is easy to read and understand and enjoy the novel.

I give it 5 stars and recommend it to anyone who would like to read a post WWII era book. Netflix has the movie based on the book and I may be watching it too.
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Wanice Cavalheiro Violim
5.0 out of 5 stars Cartas que contam histórias
Reviewed in Brazil on October 22, 2018
Verified Purchase
O livro conta a história de Juliet uma escritora de 32 anos e sua descoberta sobre a ocupação na Ilha de Guernsey, logo após a Segunda Guerra Mundial. O livro foi adaptado como filme pela Netflix, que faz algumas adaptações que não comprometem, se bem que mudam um pouco o desenrolar. As principais diferenças: Elizabeth Mackenna, como a Sociedade conhece o desfecho da história dela, o caráter do Mark, a estadia da Juliet na ilha e seu relacionamento com a Kit.
O filme complementa o livro com as imagens de Guernsey, mas não o substitue, principalmente devido ao formato do livro: conhecemos a história através de cartas e telegramas entre os participantes da história, o que deixa muita coisa à imaginação.
Recomendo para quem gostou por exemplo de "Um cavalheiro em Moscou" ou "Toda a luz que não podemos ver".
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