Oh Guernsey, where have you been all my life?  There are a lot of good books out there.  Many that I would recommend and share and enjoy reading again.  But then there are the few.  The treasures.  The ones that as soon as you pick them up you feel like you are visiting an old friend even though you haven't gotten further than the first chapter.

May I introduce you to my new friend, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, a journey in letter form to the island of Guernsey in the English Channel during the World War II German Occupation.   The unexpected humor is combined with details of humanism at it's best and worst, emerging battered and bruised but triumphant at the same time.  I felt like I was being enveloped by a group of villagers - with all of their quirks and idiosyncrasies - who had opened their arms to welcome me into not only their book club but their very lives.As the 274 pages came to an end my only wish was that there were 274 more.  Thank you, Mary Ann Shaffer.  Your health prohibited you from finishing the book yourself and you asked your niece, Annie Barrows to help you.  You passed away early in 2008 but I thank you, nonetheless, for your ability to teach me and take me to a place that now is on my list of favorite locations - even though I have never been there except through your written word.  But of course, how could I travel to Guernsey and not see my old friends Dawsey, Amelia, Isola and of course, the witty Juliet?If you haven't devoured this book yet, run to your nearest bookstore or library and do it.  Then come back and thank me.