The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

Little is known in the UK about the German occupation of the Channel Islands during the Second World War. Indeed, little seems to be taught in schools or documented in books concerning the plight of the Channel Islands, the only British Crown Dependencies to suffer occupation. It is shocking that due to either lack of sympathy or a feeling of public shame the hardships suffered by Guernsey, Jersey, Alderney, Sark and Herm are virtually unknown in a society that has spent decades deconstructing and exposing every crime of WWII.

Deemed to be no longer strategically important the Channel Islands were left completely undefended against German assault. Ships were sent to offer the islanders a means of escape before the German army reached them. Most of the inhabitants of Alderney took this opportunity, in Guernsey parents faced the heart-wrenching choice of keeping their children with them in danger or sending them to live with strangers for the remainder of the war and in Jersey the majority of the residence stayed. Unaware that the islands had been left undefended the Germans approached with caution and, mistaking some tomato export lorries for troop vehicles, heavily bombed St Peter Port.

During the occupation the islanders suffered greatly at the hands of their conquerors, although many of the troops saw their time in the Channel as a glorified holiday. The food quickly ran low and the islanders were deported to concentration camps on the continent for such crimes as listening to radios, having Jewish grandparents and aiding the slave workers who were brought to the islands. Eager to preserve his victory in conquering a little piece of England Hitler fortified the Channel Islands more than the beaches at Normandy. About six thousand slave workers were brought in, imprisoned in camps and forced to build a forest of concrete fortifications around the islands.

When D-Day finally came and Normandy was liberated the supply lines to the Channel Islands were cut in an attempt to starve out the German forces, the islanders starved with them. It wasn’t until six months later that a Red Cross ship was permitted to approach the Channel Islands bring much needed relief to the malnourished inhabitants.

Even when the islands were liberated when the war ended in 1945 there was no end to the suffering of the islanders. Many were accused of aiding the enemy, although the allegations were quickly discovered to be unfounded, and the women who had had relationships with German officers during the occupation, ‘Jerry-bags’, suffered acts of revenge.

Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows’ The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society is a touching, witty combination of expertly researched fact and cleverly conceived fiction. It dramatises the occupation of Guernsey in a way both unique and moving, weaving a tale of tragedy and loss, of heroism and bravery and of people pulling together during a time of great hardship. When war comes to Guernsey all social barriers are broken, all lives thrown into turmoil and an unlikely band of friends forced together. Set in 1946 this humorous and hopeful story is veiled in a shroud of mourning, relating the past by softly touching on the memories of a collective group, slowly eking out the painful truth.

This novel successfully captures and recreates the shell-shocked mood of a continent recovering from war and does not shy away from subjects which a post war Britain was eager to dust under the carpet. With many quick-witted and eccentric narrators this novel will make you want to drop all your responsibilities, fly to Guernsey and never come back.