In early 1946, London is just recovering from the brutal war that has left much of the city in tatters. Juliet Ashton is an author who wrote a humourous column through the war under the pseudonym of Izzy Bickerstaff, now plans to get back to serious writing. While looking for inspiration, she receives an odd correspondence from a stranger in Guernsey, asking for her help in locating a specific book. Guernsey is a Channel Island, and was occupied by the Germans during WW2.
The letter mentions the literary and potato peel pie society, and Juliet, intruiged, exchanges several letters with the man, Dawsey Adams. He tells her how the society was dreamt up on the spur of the moment to escape a German night patrol, but became a real society of literature lovers, which helped the islanders bond and retain their stiff-upper-lip through the brutal occupation. One letter leads to several more, and soon she is corresponding with several other members of the society, and finds that the activities of the society is exactly the inspiration she was looking for.
Juliet, meanwhile, is being courted by American publisher Mark Reynolds, and she is ambivalent toward him. She takes the ferry to Guernsey and meets all her friends there, all the quirky, funny, lovable, charming and all too human people who have retained they moral fortitude through the worst of times. More of their tragic stories surface when she is there, and she becomes very attached to the young daughter of the most charismatic resident, Elizabeth McKenna. Elizabeth was sent to a concentration camp by the Germans during the war, and her child is now being collectively reared by the whole village.
The whole book is a collection of correspondences, between Juliet and all the people in her circle; residents of Guernsey, her publisher Sidney, her best friend Susan and Mark. This allows the story to evolve gradually, and builds up a certain amount of suspense in the process. Several sections of the book reveal tidbits of WW2 history as seen through the eyes of the common people, and the strength they each had to find to deal with the horrors of war. The book is frequently humourous, despite what seems to be a grim subject matter.
The pacing is superb, and the book is hard to put down. Very well researched and superbly written, this is an excellent read.