My Latest Amazon Vine Book Review

I recently read and reviewed my latest book from the Amazon Vine programme. I thought perhaps you might be interested to see it.

The book in question is The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, by Mary Ann Shaffer. It's fair to say it's not a book I would have read normally, although the fact that it is partly set in Guernsey - which I visited earlier this year - piqued my interest.

Anyway, I'm pleased to say I enjoyed it a lot more than my previous Amazon Vine selection. Here's a (slightly edited) version of my review.

Review: The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

I must start by saying that I have an innate prejudice against books written entirely in the form of letters. However, this novel went a long way towards curing me of this.

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society is set just after World War 2, when the German occupation of Guernsey in the Channel Islands had only recently ended. The central character is a writer, Juliet Ashton, who begins a correspondence with the members of the eponymous society. They are a group of disparate individuals who met regularly during the occupation to read and discuss books, keep their spirits up, and provide mutual support (and as they tell their stories, it becomes clear that the support given was very much practical as well as emotional).

I found reading this book a bit like listening to a radio play. Each of the letter-writers has his or her own distinctive voice, and gradually you get to know and understand them better, through both seeing what they write themselves and what others write about them. Although I do still have some reservations about novels written entirely in this form, I have to admit it works well at showing readers the characters from different perspectives and bringing them more vividly to life.

The book is perhaps a little slow in the beginning, as we read letters sent between Juliet and her publisher and other people in her life such as her friend Sophie. As the correspondence with members of the society gets into its stride, however, the book becomes much more gripping. There is a lot of presumably well-researched information about what life was like in the Channel Islands during the German occupation, and it really does bring this lesser-known aspect of WW2 into vivid focus. To the author's credit she pulls no punches about the worst aspects of life at that time, both in Guernsey itself and in the Nazi concentration camps. Some readers might find certain scenes described in the book quite disturbing.

It does, however, have a happy ending. A harsh critic might say that it has a touch of the Mills & Boon about it as Juliet finally finds True Love, but of course I would say no such thing!

In summary, then, this is an entertaining and at times moving novel, with a fascinating background. I will certainly look out for Ms Shaffer's next book, though I might prefer it if next time she uses a more conventional narrative format!

Here's a permalink to my review on Amazon.co.uk, in case you'd like to read it in situ. By the way, if you do visit, and you like the review, a 'Helpful' vote is always appreciated!

Finally, I've included image links to the book's sales pages at Amazon.com and co.uk at the foot of this post. Note that, as this was an Amazon Vine selection, the book won't actually be available to buy until next month. Note also that if you are receiving this post by email, you will need to visit my blog to see the image links.

Happy reading!

A Visit to Guernsey

At the end of March, Jayne and I enjoyed a short break in Guernsey. I thought perhaps you might like to hear a little bit about it, and see some of the photos I took.

For those who don't know, Guernsey is one of the Channel Islands, a small group of islands between Britain and France. Guernsey (like the other Channel Islands) is a British Crown dependency, though it's not part of the United Kingdom. Guernsey is the second largest Channel Island after Jersey, which we visited a couple of years ago (see this post).

We stayed at a hotel called the Bon Port, which is in the parish of St Martins, in the south-east of the island. Being so early in the season, it was very quiet. Indeed, on our first night we were the only guests in the hotel! It was a good break, though, and great to be out and about breathing the sea air rather than sitting in front of my computer as usual.

Although the weather could fairly be described as mixed (at one point we were caught in a hailstorm!), we didn't let it stop us seeing what the island had to offer. We had a day in St Peterport, the capital, where we spent some time exploring the historic Castle Cornet and its museums.

On another day, when the weather was bad, we took the rep's advice and hopped on a number 7 bus, which took us all around the island for just 60p (about $1). This was a great way of seeing the whole of the island's coastline. It illustrates how small Guernsey is that, even with regular stops and starts, the entire circuit took little over an hour.

Photos, then. Here's a picture of the two of us enjoying breakfast at the hotel. Note the freesias, for which Guernsey is famous.


Here's one of several tableaux in the museum at Castle Cornet, showing how the castle barracks might have looked in the 18th century (I think). And yes, we did ask if it was OK to take photos!


This is a tea-room which we discovered while walking along the cliff path from the hotel. Those mugs of hot chocolate were very welcome!


You can see more of the photos I took in Guernsey on my Picasa album page.

Finally, here's a video clip of the view from the balcony of our hotel room. It's not the most exciting video you'll ever see, and the quality isn't great, but it may give you some idea why we thought it was well worth paying the extra for a sea view!


If you are receiving this post by email, you will need to visit my blog to watch the video.

Incidentally, if anyone else is thinking of visiting Guernsey, I do recommend the Bon Port. Not only does it have a great location with spectacular views, the food is also first rate. It is a little bit remote, however, so if you're not keen on walking I'd recommend hiring a car, or else booking somewhere a little closer to the main bus routes!