THE GUERNSEY LITERARY AND POTATO PEEL SOCIETY based on the novel by Mary Ann Shaffer is about the formation of a book club out of an emergency situation: one night in 1941, a Nazi patrol unit on the island of Guernsey, a moderately drunk group of islanders who violated the curfew, and the necessity of a believable excuse is what lead to the book circle. Juliet (Lily James), celebrated for her trivial books in far away London, comes across the club by chance. Her name and address is in an edition of „Selected Essays“ by Charles Lamb which compels pig breeder Dawsey (Michiel Huisman) to write her a letter. A lively letter exchange develops out of their mutual love for literature in which Dawsey also discusses the turbulent history of the book club. Curious, Juliet travels to Guernsey. She searches for traces, uncovers the secrets of the war, and falls in love with the people on the island while her fiance, a US officer, waits for her back in London. Shaffer tells Juliet‘s story in the form of an epistolary novel with a lot of nostalgia and yearning for the simple life. Mike Newell (FOUR WEDDINGS AND A FUNERAL) depicts the fake life in London high society in contrast to authentic island life. His film and the characters come alive when Juliet arrives. The flashbacks and the young woman‘s detective work keep the tension up and it‘s only towards the end that the last puzzle piece of the moving fate of the islanders during the occupation is put in place. THE GUERNSEY LITERARY AND POTATO PEEL SOCIETY is pure British cinema with charming characters and wonderful postcard-like images of Guernsey.

Lars Tunçay

Translation: Elinor Lewy