A Guernsey farmer named Dawsey received a book that had once belonged to Juliet. Because her address was in the book, he was able to correspond with her. The address actually was for Juliet's previous flat (destroyed during a bombing raid), but the letter still found her. This reminded me of how email sometimes still finds the right owner, even if you accidentally mistype something.
The two discover a mutual love of books and begin corresponding. Meantime, Juliet is also writing to her editor and best friend (who is also the editor's sister), lamenting that she can't find a topic for her next book. More folks on Guernsey start writing to Juliet and tell her of their "literary and potato peel pie" society that they started while Guernsey was occupied by the Germans. Eventually, Juliet decides to write her next book about that society.
In order to get a more authentic sense of Guernsey, Juliet visits the island and meets its inhabitants. All of the characters are so well written that I felt like I knew them, too. Heck, I wanted to travel in the Way Back Machine and visit post World War II Guernsey, myself!
As the book progresses, we learn more about the society and the people on the island. Some of the writing is a little obvious, such as the love story that even someone as nearsighted as me could have seen coming a mile away. But there are other things that are more engrossing, such as a Holocaust survivor who comes to stay on the island for a bit. I found it interesting when she told the others how no one wanted to talk to her about her experiences in the camps -- it was as if the suffering was over now and no one wanted to think about it any more. Another character spent some times in the camps and told some of it to Juliet.
Another member of the society actually fell in love with one of the German occupiers and had a child with him. This was one of the most intriguing parts of the book for me, as it forced me to think of German soldiers as human beings and not merely jackbooted, bigoted Nazi thugs. From all accounts, this soldier didn't believe in what his country was doing but had no choice but to serve. He swore that as soon as the war was over, he was going to destroy his uniform, return to the island to marry his love, farm and never think of war again. These normal dreams made me consider how awful it would be to be forced into the service of a regime that I wholeheartedly disagreed with -- I tend to just think of the victims of World War II and ignore the fact that not all who served did so gleefully or even willingly.
This book taught me a lot about the occupation, too. In the past, when I read about countries being occupied, I never really thought about what it meant to the citizens. I guess I just assumed Nazis would be strolling around like the Russians in Red Dawn; I never actually thought about the day to day interactions and the relationships that formed.
I would recommend this book to someone looking for an easy, yet informative read. Those who enjoy historical fiction and World War II should also enjoy it. It isn't a "must read", but it certainly is a really good one.
Despite its historic setting, the book reminds me of what we do today when we correspond on email and social networking sites. I mean, aren't we just writing letters to each other? They may be shorter than Juliet and her friends, but they are often just as heartfelt. Even if you only use 140 characters on Twitter, aren't you still communicating an idea or message to someone? So were they, albeit with paper and pen and via the postal service. People don't change -- just the technology does.