8.2 /10 1 Votes
Country United States Publication date 2008 Originally published 2008 Genre Historical Fiction | 4.1/5 Goodreads Language English Pages 274 Page count 274 Publisher Dial Press | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Cover artist Christian Raoul Skrein von Bumbala Subject German occupation of the English Channel Islands Characters Dawsey Adams, Sidney Stark, Amelia Maugery Similar Annie Barrows books, Historical Fiction books | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society is a historical novel by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows that was published in 2008.
Contents
Book review of the guernsey literary and potato peel pie society by mary ann shaffer annie barrows
Background
US author Shaffer planned to write the biography of Kathleen Scott, wife of the English polar explorer Robert Falcon Scott. While researching the subject, she traveled to Cambridge, England, but was discouraged to find that the subject's personal papers were nearly unusable. While dealing with this frustration, she decided to spend some of her planned stay in England by visiting Guernsey in the Channel Islands. However, as soon as she arrived, the airport was shut down due to heavy fog. She spent her visit in the airport's bookstore, reading several histories of the German occupation of those islands during World War II.
It was twenty years before Shaffer began a novel dealing with Guernsey. She had abandoned her plan to write the Scott biography, and said "All I wanted was to write a book that someone would like enough to publish."
After the manuscript had been accepted for publication (2006), the book's editor requested some changes that required substantial rewriting, but around that time Shaffer's health had deteriorated dramatically (she died on 16 February 2008). She asked the daughter of her sister Cynthia, Annie Barrows, who by that time was a well-established author of children's literature, to finish the editing and rewriting. Barrows did so, and thereby became a listed co-author on the work.
Notable characters
Characters of importance include:
Themes
Many important themes are referenced throughout the story (the magic of reading, self-discovery, meeting the Other). Some of the most valuable include those of loyalty, courage, and standing strong in the face of danger. Elizabeth is an extreme example of all of those three.
Reception
According to WorldCat, there are over 2200 library holdings of this title.
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society was reviewed by the Washington Post and The Times. It reached the number one position on the New York Times Best Seller List for paperback trade fiction on August 2, 2009; it had been on the list for 11 weeks.
Film adaptation
Guernsey is an upcoming British historical drama directed by Mike Newell and written by Don Roos and Tom Bezucha. The film is based on the novel The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. The film entered pre-production in January 2017, with filming scheduled to begin in Spring 2017. The film is being distributed and financed by French company StudioCanal.
Since news of the film emerged in 2010, actresses Kate Winslet, Anne Hathaway and Emily Blunt were cited as potential candidates for the cast of Guernsey. In January 2012, Winslet was confirmed to portray Juliet Ashton in the film. However, Winslet later pulled out in February 2013, alongside then-director Kenneth Branagh. In October 2016, it was confirmed that former Downton Abbey actress Lily James would play the role of Juliet Ashton. Dutch actor Michiel Huisman was also confirmed to portray farmer Dawsey Adams.