You’ve probably heard about this book before—Netflix released a film adaptation of this novel at the beginning of August, starring Jessica Brown Findlay, Tom Courtenay, Michiel Huisman (recently featured in Netflix’s “The Haunting of Hill House”), and Katherine Parkinson. The movie got an 81% on Rotten Tomatoes, and everyone gushed about the sweet power of a love story in the aftermath of war.

I have not seen the movie yet, because I am firmly based in the “Read-the-book-first” camp (though I’m hoping to finally watch the movie this weekend). My local library book club picked this as their first selection for the year AND it met the criteria for some prompts in my reading challenges, so I was pretty excited about this one. Unfortunately, I got my book club dates all mixed up and wasn’t able to attend the meeting, so I’m going to discuss the book today, with all of you, dear friends.

I’m using this book for the Popsugar 2019 challenge (Advanced: A book with no chapters/unusual headings/unconventional numbering) and Read Harder (An epistolary novel or collection of letters).

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TW: descriptions of war and concentration camps, violence against animals.

Juliet Ashton has finished her first novel and is touring around England in January, 1946, to promote her book, when she receives a letter from a man named Dawsey Adams. He got a book she used to own, loves it, and asks her for recommendations for more books by the same author. As their correspondence blooms, Juliet learns that he lives on the Channel island of Guernsey, which was occupied by the Germans during WWII.

Juliet discovers that several of the Islanders, including Dawsey, formed The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society to escape from a curfew violation, which turned out to be the thing that held them together and kept them sane through the war. She starts to correspond with the inhabitants of Guernsey to write a book about their society and the Occupation, but falls in love with the people (one person in particular) and the island itself.

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Island stories are meant to be read in January. Even British Island stories. One should always be reminded of the smell of the sea when it’s freezing outside. And a love story coupled with ocean thawed out my frozen, Indiana heart.

The book is an epistolary novel, so it’s told solely as a collection of letters that are divided into two parts. This is a loose interpretation of the Popsugar prompt, but I really didn’t want to work my way through House of Leaves this year. The letters make the book flow quickly, though I often had to remind myself to stop and double check who was writing to whom! The letters also make lots of great stopping points, so if you are only able to read for brief spurts, this book works really well for that.

I really enjoy World War II fiction, so this book was a good fit for me. However, I had never heard of the island of Guernsey (I had to look up a map to see where it was!), and I certainly didn’t know it was occupied by the Germans. This was a part of history I was totally oblivious to, so I love it when a book can open my eyes to an experience or people that I was unaware of.

But what I loved best about this novel was the central role played by books. Juliet loves her books. She calls off her engagement to a man when he packed her books away to display his athletic trophies. She is devastated when a bomb destroys her flat and every single one of her books. Dawsey reached out to Juliet because of books. The members of the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society used books to help them survive the Occupation. They used books to help them heal from the war. Books guided these characters and shaped their lives.

As much as this book is a love story between two people (but the best part is watching it unfold, so I’m not spoiling it here!), it’s also a love letter to books, to the powerful role they play in our lives, to the way they bring us together. They brought Juliet to Guernsey. Even this book about a book took me to a place that I would have never been to otherwise.

In short, I highly recommend this book. It’s a cute, short read—perfect for winter. I advise pairing it with a mug of tea and the coziest blanket you own. I’m definitely making plans to watch the movie this weekend! Have you seen the Netflix adaptation? Drop your thoughts below!

Publisher: Dial Press
Pages: 274
Rating: 5/5