The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society is a wonderful book that gives some historical background on Guernsey during and just after World War II.  My mother lent me her copy to read when it became clear that I would be moving here.

In addition to being a good story, the book gave me some interesting historical background on Guernsey.  It also meant that when I was telling people I would be moving to Guernsey at least some people had heard of the place.  Not to bias any potential readers as to the type of story it is, but my unofficial sampling was that almost no men had ever heard of Guernsey, while about 75% of women had heard of it - mostly due to the book.  However, I should note that there was the occasional person that had heard of Guernsey cows.

My mother’s book club read the book just before I moved here.  I can only begin to imagine the amount of joy that it must have brought her to be able to tell her friends that her son was moving to Guernsey.

One of the authors of the book (Annie Barrows) is just now in Guernsey for the Guernsey Literary Festival.  Today, I went to her very entertaining presentation and I’m happy to report that my mother’s copy of the book will soon be making the long trip back to Olympia with a little extra writing in it.

As an example of how small a place Guernsey can be, I was having a drink with a friend last night at a local hotel bar.  Sitting at the table next to us thoroughly enjoying a book she was reading was none other than - Annie Barrows. 

The current rumor is that the book is supposed to be made into a film with Kate Winslet linked to the project.  I hope to be able to report on some Kate Winslet sightings in the near future.