Funny Title, Great Book!

Mom cannot say enough great things about this book. She was totally obsessed with it when she got it from the library, and she wouldn't put it down until she was finished reading it. Of course, I can't read, but I feel as if I read this book because Mom told me all about it.

First of all, Mom does not allow herself to read fiction books that often. Allow herself? I really don't understand this concept because I allow myself to do what myself wants. If I want to go outside, I go. If I want to sleep all day, I snooze to my heart's content. If I want to eat until I puke, they eating I will do. My list goes on and on, but this post is not about me - it's about this book.

When Mom does read fiction, she almost never reads anything like this book. But all the reviews that she read forced her hand and before she knew it, she was reading it. The story is very fascinating and is written as letters. The main character Juliet, receives a letter from a man, Dawsey, who found a book that Juliet owned. Dawsey wants more information about the author of the book, Charles Lamb, and Juliet and Dawsey begin to correspond.

Juliet is an author who lives in London and Dawsey is a pig farmer who lives on the island of Guernsey. The book is set in 1946 and Juliet soon learns about the German Occupation of Guernsey. She begins to correspond with other people from Guernsey and then visits Guernsey. I don't want to give too much away, but the book is a peek inside what life was like for the people of this little island during and even after the war. It is a heartwarming book that everyone is sure to enjoy.

Another interesting thing about the book are the authors. When Mom first picked up the book and checked out the back flap she thought that it was interesting that the book had two authors. Maybe one did the research and the other wrote the actual text? Wrong. The main author is Mary Ann Shaffer and she kind of stumbled upon the story while researching another book. Mary Ann gets while writing the book and her niece, Annie Barrows, steps in to finished writing the book.

I guess I am lucky that I don't read because Mom either reads to me or summarizes the books she reads. Both are good options that I allow for myself.