The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society, let start with the Title. I read this for a book club, and the Title gave me little to go by at teh start. A Potato Peel Society? What. Even then, I didn't know anything about Guernsy, but the book gave some insight, and then I searched out pictures so I could have an idea of location as well as the enivornment of the island. At first, I found the book a bit difficult to take, as this book is written in ALL letters, and even telegrams. It was challenging to get to know the character's at the beginning through the letters, but that all changed. Through the difficulties, there has been much more delight in the reading, which has made it all worth it. The story gets so involved and you fall in love with it, especially the island of Guernsey. If you are interested in reading the effects that WWII and the Nazi regime have impacted a society, then this will give you a realistic vision. It is not only this that encaptures the reader, but moreso, how they coped with the traumatic infiltration of foreign troops.

like many of the others here, i loved this novel. i love it when i can get lost in a story, and was able to do that with this one.

I wasn't sure at first about the story written all in correspondance....but I simply loved this book. Do read it, it's very interesting to see how she crafts the story in this manner. please someone....make a movie of this. Recommended

"You know you've read a good book when you turn the last page and feel a little as if you have lost a friend." --Paul Sweeney

A rich character novel, written as a series of letters, based mostly around the post-WWII English Channel island of Guernsey. Julie Ashton is the story's main focus as her curiosity leads her into the loving embrace of this small but committed group of islanders trying to rebuild their community post-war. As part of the book's structure, we never get to be in the present with any of the characters, which makes one of the secondary characters, the inspiring and brave Elizabeth McKenna, the most compelling because she exists in a kind of a past-past tense. Most of us can only wish to be a part of the loving family that Julie discovers. Try to imagine finding these letters, not as pages in a book, but as dusty handwritten notes hidden away for decades in some forgotten attic. This novel feels like your holding a treasure in much the same way.

This is a fun and easy to read book that shows a different side of the war.

Wikipedia has an entry on this which will give you a view of the theme and period. But it doesn't tell you why you should read it. The female protagonist, a young writer, goes to the Channel Islands after WWII and learns about the literary society that was formed by locals during the Nazi occupation. That bodes a grim mood, but it is actually a joyous, amusing and uplifting tale. There are dark notes that will suddenly strike out of the page with the force of a physical blow. But for the most part the tone of the postwar period; a mixture of relief, optimism, and remembered horror. But there is no pessimism in this tale. It is primarily an honoring of friendship, love, and survival. While reading, my wife and I both would often pause to chuckle over many diverting lines and recite them to the other. (And they do bear repeating.) Written in an epistolary style, I was greatly impressed at how clearly each separate correspondent was revealed. Not merely because of the information in the letters, but by the tone, the grammar, the rhythm, all clearly illuminating each separate individual. It is a rare author who can pull off that trick. And it is such a high degree of skill, a clear eye and ear that is required for this accomplishment, that I was staggered to discover that it was the author's first novel. Alas, that it was the last, for she died just before it was published.

This book is about a love for reading and how this love can unite very different in appearance and skills people, in the most difficult moments of their lives. This is a warm book. Written in an educated manner, but without the bombast and arrogance. If you are interested in philology or simply love books – this is for you. But if you expect a thriller, adventures, fast pace - it is not for you.

Great read! Loved the plot and I felt the need to keep reading until the very end. Good story line, definitely recommend for those who like some history, some romance, and some mystery.

Such a wonderful book. The kind that makes you feel sorry when it ends.