The art of letter writing

Today, friends text message or e-mail to keep in touch.  In the middle of the last century, these same friends would have placed a phone call or written a letter.  Our world of instant communication has left the art and skill of letter writing in the dust.

Yet, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, a book comprised solely of personal and business letters interspersed with telegrams, has become a must read for book clubbers across the country.

It’s January 1946 and the great city that was London is climbing over the rubble left by the Luftwaffe and beginning to rebuild.  Enter 32-year-old Juliet Ashton, a light-hearted journalist, searching for her next project.  In one of those unexplained coincidences found only in novels, a Guernsey Islander, Dawsey Adams, has found Juliet’s name and former address on the flyleaf of an old book.

Dawsey’s simple request for a London bookshop’s name and address begins a five-month exchange of letters resulting in a new project and new life for Juliet.  Along the way, the reader meets the other quirky members of the Literary Society:  Isola, the practicing witch; the rag and bone man Will Thisbee; the footman, John Booker, pretending to be a Lord; the jumped up London servant, Elizabeth McKenna,  and  Dawsey Adams, a stuttering swine herder, along with the only two ‘respectable’ individuals Amelia Maugery and Eben Ramsey. (These characterizations are  courtesy of (Miss) Adelaide Addison in her letter to Juliet dated 1st March 1946.)

Each member, along with sundry other Islanders, has a story to tell-their version of five years under the tyrannical thumb of the German soldiers on an island sized 7 miles long and 5 miles wide.  We, the readers, share in Juliet’s joy of meeting the Islanders for the first time along with the poignant memories of bidding the Guernsey children goodbye as they sail to safety in the country sides of England.

It is an interesting yet  fanciful glimpse into the bygone world where receiving a long-awaited letter was reason for rejoicing.  Don’t miss the experience!!

Watch for reading guide questions soon!