Doesn’t the book bear a rather odd title? For many of us who judge a book by its title, this would be put down for not being serious, intense literature. And yet, this is a book which has a war at the center of its plot.
A little research about what Guernsey is will tell you that it is a charming little British island in the English channel, which was occupied by the German army from 1940 to 1945 at the time of the Second World War. It is from the Guernsey Islands that Juliet Ashton, a writer in London receives a letter from a certain Dawsey Adams (take note) requesting for books written by Charles Lamb. The year is 1946 and the Second World War was just over. The trauma had lasted.
Intrigued by the name of the little club Dawsey claims to belong to, Juliet enquiries and stumbles upon a ‘literary society’ that had begun as a cover for the Guernsey residents breaking curfew during the German occupation. And then begins a series of correspondence from Juliet to the society members through handwritten, personalized letters.
Wars are the most terrible manifestation of humanity’s senseless greed for power. For the residents of Guernsey—a quiet, remote island far removed from the political power struggles of mid-20th century Europe—war brought destruction in a more subtle, insidious form. Destruction came – not literally through enemy bombs like the other war torn cities, but equally through the disruption of daily life, the isolation from the outside world, the separation from children sent away for their own safety, and the news of the horrors of the concentration camps. Goods were scarce, and life had come to a grinding halt, with an unending apprehension of the war and the life after that.
The letters spoke to Juliet of all that. And yet, almost magically, it does not let us plunge into despair. There is always hope, shining bright through friendships forged during the war, through little treats managed to slip past the watchful eyes of the German soldiers, and the little book club that served potato peel pie. Courage wins.
The book is an epistolary novel (a term I learnt after I read the book) – and it means it is composed entirely of letters written from one person to the other. It sheds objectivity, inviting us to see a catastrophe like a war and its enduring impact by the eyes of the people who lived through it. The letters go back and forth in time, connecting the present post war Juliet’s life to the not so distant past of the war. An unexpected love story, and an interesting anecdote about one beloved writer also filters in between.
Unable to resist the pull of the island, Juliet visits and soon finds it becoming her home, where she discovers her true calling
Juliet ultimately completes (or expands?) the cycle which Katherine – the founder of this book club – had started. Juliet never could meet her, and yet she could – through the memories of the Guernsey residents, and through the daughter she left behind. Hitler is estimated to have detained and tortured 1.5 million jews, communists, transgenders and transgresses to his authority in his concentration camps, and Katherine was one of them.
Katherine is our unlikely war hero. No, she does not lead any group to mortal victory in any armed combat. She is not responsible for any diplomatic truce. She could not even survive the concentration camp.
In the grand scheme of the death, destruction, and mayhem surrounding the island, her actions may seem small, really. Her legacy endured by simply loving in the face of defiance, and seeking happiness for herself and her friends. An act, at which Julient naturally becomes her successor.
Much would be lost to those who preferred to watch the movie alone on Netflix, though the fresh star cast charms you.
If the lockdown exposed us to unending boredom, frustration and anxiety – it would only be a tiny test of what it truly means to live in the times of war and curfew. The book taught me this. And how the handwritten words survive the test of time.
Co-authored by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows, the novel became hugely successful, reaching the number one position on The New York Times Best Seller list for paperback trade fiction in August 2009; remaining on the list for 11 weeks.