The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. First one has to get one’s head around the title of the book written by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows. The discussion on this lightly written book was lively and full of fun The story is related through a series of letters written by Judith Ashton, an established author, who visits this island between France and Britain, known as one of the Channel islands, and the residents of the island.. She has been commissioned to do an article on Guernsey’s literary society for The Times.
Nimal Thadani, who made the presentation, said the society was formed by the island’s residents as a means of coping with the German occupation at the time of the second world war [ 1939- 45].Writing to the resident Dawsey Adams, Judith observes : I want to find some travel and history books about the Channel islands too, or is it really true that on a clear day, you can see the cars on the French coast roads ? So it says in my encyclopaedia, but I bought it second hand for 4 shillings and I don’t trust it. There I also learnt that Guernsey is roughly 7 miles long and 5 miles wide with a population of 42,000.
The resident Eben Ranmsey points out that they weren’t a true literary society at first. Apart from Elizabeth……. most hadn’t had much to do with books since school.’ We took them from Ms Maugery’s shelves, fearful we would spoil the fine paper. I had no zest for such matters in those days.’
Elizabeth, the one who is the inspiration behind the literary society, is a central character of the book but she does not make an appearance. She was sent to a concentration camp by the Germans and perished there. Dawsey Adams is bringing up Elizabeth’s daughter Kit, aged five
Amelia tells Judith that Will Thisbee wants to have a welcome party for her. He will bake a Potato Peel Pie [ reference to the scarcities during the war when even the peels of potatoes were consumed ] for the event and has devised a cocoa icing for it.” He made a surprise pudding for our meeting last night– cherries flambe — which fortunately burnt to a crisp so we don’t have to eat it.”
And so the letters go back and forth. During the discussion, Dr Gautam Vohra said that the Germans are shown in a good light for a change. He cannot think of any war book written by those who fought them praising the Germans.. For the author points to trucks laden with food that often spilled potatoes or vegetables on the roads and when the residents scrambled to collect them, the German soldiers on the truck turned the other eye.
Sadhna Kumar said that she felt that the books discussed by the society were not adequately shared by the authors. She was keen on finding out about their tastes in literature, but was unable to do so . Ameeta Aggarwl pointed out that the authors were obsessed with the character of Elizabeth . Her name crops up every so often. Jyotsna Bhandari and Benita Sharma said that the authors could have given a better description of Guernsey, and till the very end there was none. Hence the reader could not form an idea of this ostensibly beautiful Channel island.
