Today, publishers Bloomsbury launch the paperback edition in the UK of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society.
Written by unknown American author Mary Ann Shaffer and, due to illness, completed by her niece Annie Barrows the fictional work tells the fascinating story of the lives of Guernsey residents during the difficult years of German occupation during World War 2.
The author suddenly decided to visit Guernsey during a stay in London in 1980 and when stranded there by fog, used her time to delve into the island’s amazing history. Shaffer died in 2008 knowing that this, her only novel, was to be published in thirteen countries.
The book tells the tale of humanity, daring, bravery and stoicism of the Guernsey people when faced with curfews, hunger and anger that only an Occupation can engender. The “literary society” was a ploy used by locals to divert the Germans’ attention away from their more practical activities of rearing animals and hiding scarce food.
Shaffer writes in an evocative and poignant way about the various parishes of Guernsey especially St Martins, the cliff-tops, St Peter Port (where Dawsey, one of the book’s main characters, has a job unloading ships) and the sheer beauty of the island.
Since the release of the paperback edition in the USA in May, books have sold out with wait lists in some cities. The publishers noted that that the book could sell 2 million copies there by the end of the year and last week the book hit the No 1 spot of the New York Times bestsellers list.
Annie Barrows travelled from USA to Guernsey last year to celebrate the launch of the hard back edition.
VisitGuernsey’s Director of Tourism, Chris Elliott commented “we are delighted at the success in the US of this fascinating novel and expect that the UK launch will enjoy similar success. We’re expecting visitors from the UK to be attracted to Guernsey to bring a story alive that they’ve enjoyed reading; we could well be looking at a repeat of what “Captain Corelli’s Mandolin” did for the island of Kefalonia. There has already been a huge increase in enquiries from USA residents, and there’s great excitement on the island.”
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