A wondrous, exquisitely crafted, surprise bestseller that affirms the power of fiction to make life meaningful in the face of great adversity.

“I wonder how the book got to Guernsey? Perhaps there is some sort of secret homing instinct in books that brings them to their perfect readers.” January 1946: London is emerging from the shadow of the Second World War, and writer Juliet Ashton is looking for her next book subject. Who could imagine that she would find it in a letter from a man she’s never met, a native of the island of Guernsey who has come across her name written inside a secondhand Charles Lamb book. . . .

As Juliet and her new correspondent exchange letters, she is drawn into the world of this man and his friends—and what a wonderfully eccentric world it is. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society boasts a charming, funny, deeply human cast of characters, from pig farmers to phrenologists, literature lovers all. Written with warmth and humor as a series of letters, the novel is a celebration of the written word in all its guises, and of finding connection in the most surprising ways.

Juliet begins a remarkable correspondence with the society—born as a spur-of-the-moment alibi when its members were discovered breaking the curfew established by the Germans occupying their island—learning about their island, their taste in books, and the impact the recent German occupation has had on their lives. Captivated by their stories, Juliet sets sail for Guernsey, and what she finds will change her forever.

Praise for The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

“A book-lover's delight, an implicit and sometimes explicit paean to all things literary.”
—Chicago Sun-Times

“I can’t remember the last time I discovered a novel as smart and delightful as this one, a world so vivid that I kept forgetting this was a work of fiction populated with characters so utterly wonderful that I kept forgetting they weren’t my actual friends and neighbors. Treat yourself to this book please—I can’t recommend it highly enough.”
—Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat, Pray, Love

"The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society is a sweet, sentimental paean to books and those who love them. . . . It affirms the power of books to nourish people enduring hard times."
—Washington Post Book World

"A marvelous debut. . . . Reminiscent of Helene Hanff's 84 Charing Cross Road, this is a warm, funny, tender, and thoroughly entertaining celebration of the power of the written word."
—Library Journal

“I’ve never wanted to join a [book] club as desperately as I did while reading The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. . . . [The novel] is a labor of love, and it shows on almost every page.”
—Yvonne Zipp, Christian Science Monitor

"[The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society is] a nifty little cloth whose warp is bibliophilia and whose weft is Anglophilia. . . . I could not put the book down. I have recommended it to all my friends."
—Erica Marcus, Newsday