Dear Reader:

On an insert added at the beginning of this novel…the following words were written:

“ I wonder how the book got to Guernsey? Perhaps there is some sort of
secret homing instinct in books that brings them to their perfect readers.”

With this amazing book, that is exactly what happened to me. It found me…though it took some time to do so.

Now some of you avid readers might recognize it as a New York Best Seller #1 from 2008 and could be wondering why I just now discovered it. I asked myself the same question. Then I did think back to 2008 and remembered that it was the year of Mandy’s wedding at Edisto and two weeks later my breast cancer diagnosis. So I will follow the practice of making a “kind promise” to myself (in the form of a legitimate excuse)… that I had a lot on my plate and my mind most of that year.

It was almost two years ago that I went in Timrod Library and I must have been sighing audibly…because the volunteer that afternoon looked up and asked if she could help me.

“I want a really really good book to read, you know the kind that you can sink your teeth into, pore over into the wee hours of the morning, and finally start allocating only so many pages to allow yourself to read near the ending because you don’t want it to ever end.”

She nodded and gave me a wink, as if we were in a secret reading society together, and said…”I can write the titles of two such books down for you…but you will need to find them elsewhere.”

She then tore off a piece of paper and wrote: The School of Essential Ingredients (Erica Bauermeister) and The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows. She thrust the slip of paper into my hand and whispered, “Give yourself plenty of time to digest these books…they deserve the attention.”

I immediately ordered The School of Essential Ingredients off amazon.com and fell in love with it. By the time I had read this book the author had written a sequel. Following these two readings, I, inadvertently, discovered author, Sarah Addison Allen, writer of Garden Spells and was under her whimsical  spell for the next year.

But then…but then…you might remember that I cleaned out the corner den bookshelves a week ago Saturday and one of the items I re-discovered was the little scrap of paper the Timrod volunteer had given me two years ago. I recognized the slip of parchment immediately and quickly ran to amazon.com and ordered The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society.

It arrived last Wednesday and I was hooked. This is one of those times that you are just going to have to trust me that you want to read this unique novel if you haven’t…you won’t soon forget it. (And if you do…the movie, based on the book, is starting production in the spring of this year…starring the British actress, Lily James. Some of you might remember her as the rather wild niece/cousin in the PBS mini-series Downtown Abby-who was always getting in trouble.)

For those of you (like me) who love an historical background for a novel, you have a fascinating one with this book. Amazon.com synopsis:

January 1946: London is emerging from the shadow of the Second World War, and writer Juliet Ashton is looking for her next book subject. Who could imagine that she would find it in a letter from a man she’s never met, a native of the island of Guernsey, who has come across her name written inside a book by Charles Lamb….

As Juliet and her new correspondent exchange letters, Juliet is drawn into the world of this man and his friends—and what a wonderfully eccentric world it is. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society—born as a spur-of-the-moment alibi when its members were discovered breaking curfew by the Germans occupying their island—boasts a charming, funny, deeply human cast of characters, from pig farmers to phrenologists, literature lovers all.

Juliet begins a remarkable correspondence with the society’s members, learning about their island, their taste in books, and the impact the recent German occupation has had on their lives. Captivated by their stories, she sets sail for Guernsey, and what she finds will change her forever.

Written with warmth and humor as a series of letters, this novel is a celebration of the written word in all its guises, and of finding connection in the most surprising ways.

*I found one surprising connection myself in one of the letters of correspondence.

Juliet comments:

Have you ever noticed that when your mind is awakened or drawn to someone new, that person’s name suddenly pops up everywhere you go? My friend Sophie calls it coincidence, and Mr. Simpless, my parson friend, calls it Grace. He thinks that if one cares deeply about someone or something new…one throws a kind of energy out into the world, and “fruitfulness” is drawn in. 

I think Mr. Simpless just re-defined our God Winks…a wonderful connection!

So until tomorrow…I love a God Wink that sends me off to another land and place to read about problems from the past that seem eerily relevant today. We can learn so much from the heroes and heroines of the past, even through fiction. Guardian angels appear everywhere, even emerging from powerful courageous words that can be life-altering.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

Pictures from Hollow Tree Nursery! Anne and I got camellias, gardenias, and even firewood yesterday! We kept stopping on the way to Duke’s to take pictures of daffodils, old barns, homes with “haint” blue doors, and even a bald eagle who was helping himself to the left-overs of a dead armadillo that the buzzards hadn’t quite finished. When we went back the eagle kept circling and circling…never saw one that upclose in nature. So cool!