The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie - Mary Ann Shaffer | Annie Barrows

A war-ravaged Britain is emerging from the Second World War. It’s a new start too for writer Juliet Ashton, keenly seeking out material for a new novel. Fate, however, finds its way, as the chance find by a Guernsey native of a book belonging to Juliet opens a surprising door. Soon, what began as a writerly search for inspiration will result in changes she could never anticipate.

In the tradition of Helene Hanff’s 84 Charing Cross Road, Mary Ann Shaffer’s The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society has become, since its posthumous publication, one of the classic epistolary novels.

Set against a background of both physical and psychological recovery from the monstrosity of war, Shaffer ekes out a gentle but still penetrative comedy of manners, where the exchange of letters between two bibliophiles gradually draws together two different worlds.

Simultaneously, we learn of the deep and often terrible sacrifices made by a small island community that found themselves abandoned to the power of the Nazi war machine.

Mary Ann Shaffer, who was born in West Virginia and lived for most of her life in California, tragically passed away during the manuscript’s editing: the final drafts were completed by her niece Annie Barrows.