The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society, by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows (New York: The Dial Press, 2009)
Told in letters, this sweet novel more than accomplishes what the author had hoped, that “these characters and their story shed some light on the sufferings and strength of the people of the Channel Islands during the German Occupation” and “that my book will illuminate the belief that love of art – be it poetry, storytelling, painting, sculpture, or music – enables people to transcend any barrier man has yet devised.”
The four of us – Amelia, Kit, Dawsey, and I – rode to Amelia’s farm in Dawsey’s cart, while everyone else walked. It wasn’t far except in terms of landscape, for we moved from St. Peter Port out into the countryside. There are rolling pasturelands, but they end suddenly at cliffs, and all around is the moist salt smell of the sea. As we drove, the sun set and the mist rose. You know how sounds become magnified in the fog? Well, it was like that – every bird’s chirp was weighty and symbolic. Clouds boiled up over the cliff-sides, and the fields were swathed in grey by the time we reached the manor house, but I saw ghostly shapes that I think were the cement bunkers built by the Todt workers. – from The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society, by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows
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