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The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

Mary Ann Shaffer

Discussion: Books Set in Europe

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Books Set in Europe

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last updated May 01, 2025 06:52AM

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What Members Thought

May 03, 2018 Ryan rated it really liked it

Shelves: fiction, kindle-kobo-ipad, 2018

So very much can happen in between pieces of correspondence...

2 likes · Like · see review

Sep 07, 2012 Nadine in NY Jones rated it liked it

Shelves: fiction, era-world-war-2, literary-schmiterary, chick-lit, womens-day

I've learned a new word! Epistolary! wheeeeee I think I'm not gonna like this one ... I think the EPISTOLARY form is gonna piss me off ....

As it turns out, the epistolary format prevented me from ever really feeling like I was a part of the story. I could not immerse myself in the story when the story was always just being told to me by various letter writers. Additionally, it was very difficult to tell the letter writers apart - sure, at the beginning of each letter it said to: & from: but it ...more

1 like · Like · see review

Aug 29, 2011 mstan rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: src-fall-2011

The 'story' here is told via a series of letters exchanged between a writer, Juliet, and her editor, sometime-boyfriend, best friend, and various people living in Guernsey, the only part of the UK that had been occupied by the Germans during WWII.

I was actually hopeful that the literary society mentioned in the title would be moderately interesting but there's a woman who wants to discuss her own cookbook during the book club, and one man who has just read about the philosophy of Seneca and goes ...more

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Sep 05, 2009 Sarah rated it really liked it

Shelves: feminist-fiction

Loved that the stories are told through letters. Found the characters fascinating, especially the intimacy that grows between characters.

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Sep 11, 2009 Heather rated it really liked it

Nice story, learned something new about the world. Didn't even know of the islands before reading it, to tell you the truth! ...more

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Feb 25, 2010 Katie rated it really liked it

Shelves: female-author, ___europe, books-about-books

I echo what everyone else has said about this book. The characters were all beautiful and like everyone else has said, I want to move to Guersney and be friends with all of them.

It really made me want to start writing letters to people, as a sole form of communication. Letter writing is such a beautiful art, and I really want to be a part of it.

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Aug 13, 2009 Erin (NY) rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: books-i-own, read-in-2010

I liked this book, but not as much as I expected to. I guess I went in with my expectations too high. I liked the perspective from which the story was told, I loved seeing all the possible perspectives. It was a bit hard to follow sometimes though because things happened too quickly. A very good read though.

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Sep 07, 2008 Sara marked it as to-read