The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

I joined a book club! However, unlike my cousin Faiza, my book club doesn't meet over great dinners and discuss the book. In fact, most members of my book club have never even met. They are fellow July 2006 mommies, that I find dear to me.

Our book club just began, and our January book is The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows. For the past few months I've been reading the Black Dagger Brotherhood series, so when this book was suggested, and I picked it up, I wasn't convinced I would enjoy it.

I was wrong.

The book takes place in Britain in 1946. Since it's post war, it discusses some aspects of war. While I found it sad, the book never made me feel sad. Our main character, Juliet, receives a letter from a Guernsey man  and the story begins.

The book is written in an epistolary format, consisting of letters going back and forth between Juliet, and several of her friends, and the people on Guernsey. My complaint with this, was the authors didn't seem to be able to change the voice. I often had to refer back to who wrote the letter to whom. The voice in each letter blended with the next. But if you don't mind double checking, then it's really easy to follow. Oh, I do have to say, that 2 American women writing letters as people living in Britain, failed to give me that "British" voice.

I do have a couple other minor issues. When Juliet visits Guernsey, the islanders let Kit live with her. Kit's a small child. The islanders didn't have any relationship with Juliet other than the letters they exchanged. I also felt that the ending was rushed.

Having said that, I truly enjoyed this book. It was a light read. Humorous. And despite the lack of vampires, there is a "dead bride"!