With the release of the new movie, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, based on the bestselling book, we’ve decided to check out ten additional novels set on the beautiful island of Guernsey.
Guernsey
The Guernsey Novels is a riveting book series by Anne Allen. So far, there are six standalone books, each with fresh new lead characters with their own links to the German Occupation during World War 2, having an impact on the present. The Guernsey Novels are a mix of mystery, family drama, and love story and influenced by the author’s love of the island where she spent many happy years. Titles in the series include: Dangerous Waters, Finding Mother, The Guernsey Retreat, The Family Divided, Echoes of Time, and The Betrayal.
The Book of Ebenezer Le Page by G.B. Edwards is classified as one of the most compelling literary creations of the late twentieth century. The novel tells the life-story of eighty-years old Guernsey man Ebenezer. He writes of family secrets and feuds, unforgettable friendships and friendships betrayed, love glimpsed and lost. It spans seventy years and recalls the Great War and the German Occupation of Guernsey during World War II.
Green Dolphin Street by Elizabeth Goudge is a haunting 19th century love story set in Guernsey and also New Zealand. Two sisters who have very different personalities, both fall in love with the same man, William. They had both loved him for years. Now they were waiting for him to return from his journeys and claim his bride.
The Soldier's Wife by Margaret Leroy is a historic romance novel set during WWII. Whilst Vivienne de la Mare’s husband is away fighting, she falls in love with an enigmatic German soldier who is part of the occupying forces in Guernsey. As their relationship intensifies, so do the pressures on Vivienne.
The Devils Claw is a debut novel by Lara Dearman and is the first of her atmospheric new crime series set in Guernsey. The protagonist, Jennifer Dorey, returns to the island as a reporter and she uncovers a pattern of deaths that have taken place over the past fifty years. Together with DCI Michael Gilbert, an officer on the verge of retirement, they follow a dark trail of island myths and folklore to 'Fritz', the illegitimate son of a Nazi soldier. His work, painstakingly executed, has so far gone undetected.
Paper Aeroplanes by Dawn O’ Porter, is set in the mid-1990s and tells the story of two Guernsey school girls. The two fifteen year old girls are united by loneliness and their dysfunctional families. They develop an intense bond even though many obstacles stand in the way of their friendship. Paper Aeroplanes is a gritty an unforgettable snapshot of small-town adolescence and the heart-stopping power of female friendship.
The Book of Lies by Mary Horlock is told through the voices of fifteen-year-old Cat Rozier and her long-dead Uncle Charlie—known to Cat only by the audio recordings he left behind. Cat’s teenage girl’s Mean Girls-like experience pushes her to murder her best friend in a scandal, she will discover, that mirrors her uncle’s previously unknown story from the days of the island’s Nazi occupation during WWII.
A Place of Hiding (Inspector Lynley #12) by Elizabeth George is a murder mystery novel which explores the darker landscapes of human relationships. In the story, one of Guernsey's wealthiest inhabitants and its main benefactor is found murdered on the beach. There are many people with reasons who want him dead and Inspector Lynley delves into Guernsey’s dark history to find someone who may have exacted retribution for the most unspeakable crime of all.
A Guernsey Exile by Ann Carter tells the story of the friendship and romance that develops between two children, Elizabeth and Thomas, during a period of poverty, slavery, smuggling and war in the mid-eighteenth century. The story was inspired by the true but little known incident of Guernsey children being exiled from the poorhouse and sold into indentured servitude in the American colonies.
Lizzie and the Guernsey Gang by April W. Gardner is a YA novel about a young girl living on her beloved island-home of Guernsey, but when German bombs drop on her crystal beach, her peaceful world explodes. The story follows the lives of Lizzie, her brother, and cousins under German Occupation.