Book 65 - The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer - first published in the UK in 2008

This book is written wholly in the form of letters sent mainly between writer Juliet Ashton and her publisher Sidney, friend Sophie and various members of the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society.  Apparently this makes it an epistolary novel - a term I had not come across before.  The book is set in 1946.  The story of how the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society came into being during the German occupation of the Channel Islands in the Second World War and what happened to its founder Elizabeth McKenna gradually unfolds.  The book is moving and heartwarming but at the same time it doesn't shy away from describing some of the awful things that the Germans did on Guernsey to the islanders and their forced and slave (Todt) labourers who they brought from all over Europe to build up the island's defences to repel an Allied invasion that never came.

Elizabeth had a relationship with a decent German officer called Christian.  She got pregnant and gave birth to their daughter Kit.  However by this time Christian had been killed when the ship he was travelling in to France was bombed and sunk by the Allies.  Elizabeth was later deported to a concentration camp in Germany for helping a friend to shelter a starving Polish Todt worker.  Kit is left behind in the care of the society members.

After corresponding with the members of the society for a while, Juliet travels to Guernsey to visit them.  She falls in love with the island, the way of life, the society members and Elizabeth's daughter Kit.

This is Mary Ann Shaffer's only published book.  She sadly died in 2008, so never knew how popular her novel would be.

Islands covered - Guernsey 9/10

L'Ancresse - German Watchtower

 Moulin Huet, Guernsey

Book 64 - We couldn't leave Dinah

We couldn't leave Dinah by Mary Treadgold - first published in 1941

The story is set on the fictional island of Clerinel in the English Channel in 1940.  Its location is somewhere between the Channel Islands and England.  The Germans have invaded the Channel Islands but on Clerinel life is continuing as normal despite the threat of invasion due to the island's strategic importance.

13 year old Caroline and her 14 year old brother Mick are enjoying their summer holidays with their father and younger brother Thomas at their home on Clerinel.  They are enthusiastic members of the local Pony club, which has just moved to a new headquarters in a cave near the sea.  Peter Beaumarchais is the Pony Club President and he holds a fancy dress/masked carnival party (on horseback of course).  Caroline and Mick don't like dressing up and they attend reluctantly.  However in the middle of the party they learn that the Germans are about to invade Clerinel and they are to be evacuated.  In the confusion of the evacuation Caroline and Mick get left behind on the quay while their father and Thomas sail to England.  They return to their home but soon realise that they cannot stay there as it has been requistioned by a German officer and his granddaughter.  They move to the Pony Club's HQ in the cave, taking Mick's pony Punch with them.  They are assisted by Peter Beaumarchais whose family decided to stay on Clerinel and whose father tries to arrange for them to be evacuated.  A few days later they realise that they can be of great assistance to the British intelligence service in foiling German plans for an invasion of Britain.  Despite being the title of the book, Caroline's pony Dinah doesn't play a huge role in the story.  Being a children's book there is a happy ending.

The book was written in 1940 when the threat of a German invasion was very real and the outcome of the war was by no means certain.  The book is a cross between a Famous Five adventure and the dozens of pony stories I read as a child.  It does feel a bit dated in some of the attitudes to social class but it is still a good yarn.

Clerinel is a fictional island but the descriptions match the rockier parts of the coast of Jersey and Guernsey.  6/10

 Bonne Nuit Bay, Jersey

 

 La Greve de Lecq, Jersey

La Prevote, Guernsey

Book 63 - Bergerac and the Fatal Weakness

Bergerac and the Fatal Weakness by Andrew Saville - first published in 1988

This book is a novelization of the BBC TV series Bergerac, which starred John Nettles in the title role and ran from 1981-1991.  His character Jim Bergerac was a Detective Sergeant in the States of Jersey Police Bureau des Etranger.  This department investigated crimes committed by foreigners on the island of Jersey.  Bergerac is a divorced recovering alcoholic with a very rich ex-father-in-law and a teenage daughter.

A young boy called Matthew comes to the police station and says he has been kidnapped but no one believes him.  A short while later a Portuguese waiter goes missing from Bergerac's friend Diamante Lil's bar and then Lil is attacked at the bar after she disturbs a burglar.  Bergerac investigates and eventually realises that the 3 incidents are linked.  Matthew's father is the Chief Planning Officer for an English council and he is currently writing a report about the merits of different bids for a tender for a large development.  His wife and son are kidnapped and taken to Jersey so that he will recommend a particular bidder.  Bergerac rescues them.

This isn't great literature but it is fast paced and very readable.

Islands covered - Jersey   6/10

Matthew and his mother are kept hostage in a tower like this one.  This one is at Ouaisne Common.

Book 62 - Appointment with Venus

Appointment with Venus by Jerrard Tickell - first published in 1951

Venus is a pregnant cow living on the fictional island of Armorel in the summer of 1940.  The father of her calf was a famous pedigree bull called Mars, who was blown to bits after stepping on a landmine.  The unborn calf is therefore very precious, as it is the last genetic link to a perfect bloodline.  However the Germans have just invaded the Channel Islands.

The British secret services hatch a plan to rescue Venus.  They hope that the Germans won't know how important Venus and her calf are.  However Commander Hans Weiss the German officer sent to take charge of Armorel used to be a farmer and he realises her importance and arranges to send her off to Germany.    The British enlist the help of Nicola Fallaize, the sister of the Suzerain (ruler) of Armorel, who left Armorel before the German invasion, and she and 2 men - Valentine Morland and Sergeant Forbes - are tasked with retrieving Venus.  They are landed on Armorel by an alcoholic sailor who knows the waters around the island like the back of his hand.

With the help of Nicola's cousin Lionel and a small boy called Georges against all odds they succeed in their mission but it doesn't end happily for everyone.

Armorel is a fictitious island but it closely resembles Sark.  The story seems far fetched but having watched many documentaries about the activities of SOE in Europe during the Second World War, I realise that several equally crazy missions were carried out successfully during World War 2.

A film was made of the book in 1951.  I haven't seen the film.  7/10

 La Grande Greve, Sark with Brecqhou in the distance

 La Prevote, Guernsey

Little Sark

Book 61 - We Bought an Island

We Bought an Island by Evelyn Atkins - first published in 1975

This is the story of how two 2 middle aged single sisters, Babs and Evelyn (Attie) Atkins came to buy Looe Island in Cornwall in 1964.  They started out intending to buy a holiday cottage in Cornwall and ended up buying two adjacent tiny cottages in West Looe and when the previous owners were forced to sell up due to ill health, they bought Looe Island as well.  Buying the island proved to be easier than moving there with all their many worldly possessions, due to winter storms and the fact that the island is only accessible by boat for a few hours either side of high tide.  However the sisters, who seem to have been very positive thinking people, were undaunted and with the help of several friends they made in Looe they overcame all the obstacles to move to the island.  The story stops at this point and is continued in Evelyn's second book Tales from Our Cornish Island.

Islands covered - Looe Island, also known as St George's Island.  7/10

 Looe Island from the Hore Stone

 Island House where Babs and Attie lived

 Island House and Jetty Cottage looking north towards the mainland

Book 60 - Island Life: A History of Looe Island

Island Life: A History of Looe Island by David Clensy - first published in 2006

This books is very short but Looe Island is so small that I was surprised that there was so much to write about it!

The book is a bit dull in places but it is comprehensive and covers the island's monastic past, possible visit by Joseph of Arimithea and Jesus to purchase lead, its subsequent use by smugglers and farmers and its purchase in 1964 by two sisters from Surrey - Evelyn (Attie) and Roselyn (Babs) Atkins.  There are some photos but they are in black and white and aren't very clear.

The book starts with an account of the last few days of Babs Atkins' life, which is very sad.   She died in 2004 and bequeathed her beloved island to the Cornwall Wildlife Trust.  She is buried on Looe Island.  Evelyn wrote two books about their life on Looe Island - We Bought an Island, which was published in 1976 and its sequel Tales from our Cornish Island, which was published in 1986.  Evelyn died in 1997.

Islands covered - St George's or Looe Island 5/10

 Looe Island from Hannafore

 Island House

 Smuggler's Cottage

Looe Island Ferry

 Babs Atkins' grave in a peaceful spot on Looe Island

Book 59 - An Island Parish: A Summer on Scilly

An Island Parish: A Summer on Scilly by Nigel Farrell - first published in 2008

This book was written by the director of the BBC TV series An Island Parish, which aired in 2008.  I saw a couple of the episodes but not the whole series.  The author spent the spring and summer of 2007 talking to some of the inhabitants of the Isles of Scilly and accompanying some of them as they went about their daily lives.

When I read the book I had recently returned from a holiday on the Isles of Scilly, so the places mentioned were familiar to me.  The book is an engaging read but at times it felt too much like a fly on the wall documentary and I felt I was intruding into the private lives of the people featured e.g the new chaplain, vet and policewoman.  Presumably they gave their consent to the filming and their inclusion in the book.  The difference is that the film showed them at first hand while the book is the author's interpretation of their stories.  The book shows clearly the fragility of island life at the mercy of the weather and political and economic decisions made in places far away.

 St Agnes Lighthouse

 Nag's Head Rock, St Agnes

 Peninnis Point, St Mary's

 Peninnis Point, St Mary's