Finished: The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society (Shaffer and Barrows) An uplifting, heartwarming story about a lively young book author in 1946 London, Juliet Ashton, who is looking for the subject of her next book. Enter, the Island of Guernsey, an island in the English channel, along with its inhabitants, all left unprotected by England during World War II, and therefore left to fend for themselves as they became occupied by the Germans. The book is presented in the form of letters back and forth between characters. Juliet stays in frequent touch with her publisher and dear friend, Sidney Stark, and he with her while trying to figure out her next project as well as her life. We meet the quirky, but steadfast and honest people of Guernsey: Dawsey Adams, a quiet man, and the first person to write to Juliet when he finds her name and address in a book of poems he owns; Amelia Maugery, a caring woman in her fifties, who hosted the literary society the night it became a "thing"; Isola Pribby, the unusual, but forthright secretary of the society; Eben Ramsey, the grandfather who lost his own daughter in childbirth during the occupation, and had to send away his young grandson with all the other children of Guernsey as they were evacuated to mainland England; and Will Thisbee, the creator of the infamous potato peel pie...so created because they reached a point during the war that all the islanders had to eat were potatoes. As it turns out, all of these amazing people are caring for the four year old daughter of islander, Elizabeth McKenna. Elizabeth was the daughter of the housekeeper of a wealthy Londoner who owned a home on Guernsey. She happened to be on the island with the man to help him open up his house when the Germans landed. She could have returned to London with him, but instead she stayed on Guernsey to help out where she could. This was just the beginning of the magnanimous things she did for the people around her. Most notably, she invented the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society! One night, Elizabeth, Dawsey, Amelia, Isola, and Eben get together to share a roasted pig, which had been hidden by one of the residents, a punishable offence to the Germans, who insisted on having all the animals for food for their men. They also discuss a few books that some of them had read. When the time gets away from them, they realize they have missed curfew, but brave walking home anyway. Confronted by the Germans on watch, Elizabeth coyly tells them that they were just coming from their meeting of the Guernsey Literary Society where they get together to discuss literature and they are so sorry to have lost track of time. They are forgiven that time, and the society is born! The group gets together regularly after that...but with potato peel pie rather than roast pig. Elizabeth proves herself to be selfless and brave in many other situations...and she also falls in love with a very kind German officer. They decide they will marry after the war, and Elizabeth becomes pregnant. Not soon after, he is sent off to another part of the war and killed. Elizabeth has her daughter, Kit, but continues to take risks. When Kit is a toddler, Elizabeth is arrested for helping to hide a Polish slave who had been brought to Guernsey to build bunkers, and she is immediately sent off to Ravensbruck, a horrific, women-only concentration camp in Germany. At the time that Dawsey writes his first letter to Juliet, Dawsey, Amelia, Isola and Eben have been caring for and raising Kit, with no idea of where Elizabeth is or if she is even alive. This is just one of the many stories that captures Juliet's heart as she exchanges correspondence with her new acquaintances. Juliet is also wooed by rich socialite Mark Reynolds in London, as he whisks her around from party to party, before he finally proposes to her. He doesn't understand, though, that the more she has corresponded with the inhabitants of Guernsey, the more she has been drawn to them. She is determined to visit Guernsey and hear about their experiences during the war as they scraped by for food, for warmth, and to survive while trying to get along with the Germans. She tells him she's got to think about the proposal before heading off to Guernsey. Of course, once there, she falls in love with all the people she's been getting to know, and especially with little Kit. It takes her a while to figure it out, but she also falls in love with Dawsey, and he with her. When the overbearing Mark comes to see her and practically demand that she give up this island nonsense and come back and marry him, she finally gives him an unequivocal "no". It doesn't help his timing that they have all just discovered that Elizabeth did, in fact, perish at Ravensbruck right before it was liberated by the Allies...once again trying to help someone else. :-( Juliet is more determined than ever to stay on Guernsey and raise Kit if she'd be allowed to adopt her...and at the very end, she and Dawsey finally admit their love for one another and plan to marry. And...as far as her book goes...in their never-ending correspondence, Sydney has suggested that she make her book, not just about the various stories of the people of Guernsey, but about Elizabeth McKenna, who touched the lives of every person on Guernsey, and who was the very heart and soul of the story in the first place. Though there is no escaping the horror of what the Germans did during World War II in any story about that war, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society is a rare uplifting story that left me feeling so thankful I read it! I thank my friend Amanda for keeping the bug in my ear about this book! :-)