The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society: A Novel
By: Mary Ann Shaffer, Annie Barrows / Narrated By: Paul Boehmer, Susan Duerden, Rosalyn Landor, John Lee, Juliet Mills
Length: 8 hrs and 6 mins
Been out forEVER, but I’m just getting to it (And loving it!) NOW?!?
Time to fess up: Our dad’s birthday is the day before Valentine’s Day, and we’d originally THOUGHT we’d do an homage page to him, complete with a variety of pics and a PLEthora of audiobook reviews of stuff he might’ve liked. But see, it was kinda odd timing as it’s rather sad to kick up one’s heels when said homage-ee is no longer living. Soooo, we decided we’d honor him this coming Father’s Day. Still, I’d done oooooodles of audiobooks for him, and seeing as his absolute favorite thing was Military History? Well, I did WONderful histories, but let’s face it. War is grim grim GRIM and right before Valentine’s Day? Yup, THAT timing would’ve added to the oddness.
ANYway! My reason for telling you all this is because, after several, nay MANY, war stories I RAN to download and listen to The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society, thinking it something light with the vague fragrance of romance in it.
And would you believe it? Parts of it were, like, WHAM! Heavy-duty. In my raw and vulnerable state, certain stories, what happened to two characters had me feeling quite emotional indeed! Maybe you won’t find it as such, but WWII and the German occupation, concentration camps, displacement and famine? Brother/Sister, I shed a couple o’ tears with this audiobook, lemme tell ya.
Juliet Ashton is a 30-something year old writer who’s keen to do new work, shedding her status as a chronicler of the “light-side” or war and wartime privations in England. A letter finds its way to her after a book she once owned finds its way to a pig farmer in Guernsey. The two begin a friendly correspondence, and Juliet expresses an interest in a literary society that was born out of a desperate alibi whenst Guernsey was under Nazi occupation. This leads her to more of the society’s members, to more correspondence, and to a desire to go there and meet all her newfound friends.
The entirety of the story is told through these letters whether they’re between Juliet and the whimsical and eccentric cast of Guernsey folk, or between her and her editor/publisher or his sister/her own best friend. This setup can make for a bit of listener fatigue in some hands but, fortunately, the authors here have crafted such lovable characters, have added bits of intrigue, threw in tidbits of the outright horrific (Think Ravensbrück camp survivor meets up with LARGE dog… you see?), and I yawned not a single time. At 8 hours, I was wholly willing for yet another 8. Which leads me to my ooooonly complaint (Yeh yeh yeh—more of a whine really): the romance here comes rather abruptly so I totally could’ve done with more development there, more tension and such.
But author Mary Ann Shaffer died in 2008, and this was completed by her niece, so I s’pose (Oh sooooo sadly!) there really wasn’t any other option for Annie Barrows without completely taking over her aunt’s masterwork. Considering two authors worked on this, it’s really pretty seamless, so there’s that. Just wish I coulda had a taaaad more swoon time…
Onto the cast of narrators! Holy. Freaking. COW!!! What wonders they all are, from the jaunty Paul Boehmer doing Mark, the American all the way to donning an accent for other characters, all the way to the CLASSIC John Lee doing the honors for our Hero Dawsey Adams along with various other (Sometimes) less Heroic, even less savory, characters. What a hoot! And Rosalyn Landor? Oh Double Hoot! What a delight to hear some of my favorite narrators donning and doffing hats for all characters within this wondrous tale. A mighty HUZZAH for one and all!
Yeah, 12 years since this was released, and I’m baaaarely getting around to it and only because I wanted some light romance for Valentine’s Day. But what an absolute charmer!
SUCH a delight after the grimness of war war war. Even if it DID pack a gritty wallop every now and then.
I know I’m a sucker and all that but, seriously: Not a dry eye in this house.
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