Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society - by Shaffer & Barrows

[JoanP]

The Book Club Online is  the oldest  book club on the Internet, begun in 1996, open to everyone.  We offer cordial discussions of one book a month,  24/7 and  enjoy the company of readers from all over the world.  Everyone is welcome to join in.

The year is 1946.  Juliet Aston, a writer looking for her next book subject, finds herself "gloomier than she ever was during the war."  Quite out of the blue she finds her subject, one  that will change her life, with the arrival of a letter from a member of a book club in Guernsey, a British Channel island occupied by the Nazis during the war.

Discussion Schedule: Feb. 1-7   *Letters -- January 8, 1946 - March 1, 1946 Feb. 8-14    *Letters -- March 2, 1946 - May 13, 1946 Feb. 15-21   *Letters -- May 14, 1946 - July 15, 1946 Feb. 22-28     *Letters -- July 17, 1946 - Sept. 17, 1946

Feb. 22-28    Letters -- July 17, 1946 - Sept. 17, 1946

 
1. What did you think of this novel made up entirely of letters as a means of telling a story? Did it work for you?  Did the characters come alive through this means of expression?
 
2.  What historical facts concerning World War II  did you discover?  Can fiction sometimes make historic events more understandable or does it distort the facts?

3. Do you  believe that books have the power to lift people out of the most trying circumstances?

4.  Juliet sees Dawsey Adams as Charles Lamb.  Did she ever see him as Jane Austen's Mr. Rochester or Mr.Darcy? Are these men at all alike? How was Dawsey different from  other men Juliet had known?

5. What effect did Remy Girard's arrival  on the scene after the war have on the members of the literary society?  What was Juliet's reaction to her coming?  Why did Remy decide to leave?

6. Why do you think Isola's grandmother's letters from Oscar Wilde about cats were included in this story?

7. When did you first suspect that  Juliet and Dawsey might become romantically involved?  What part did Isola play in making the match?
 
8. Why do you think the authors decided to end the book with Isola's "Detection Notes"?  Did they add an element to the story that could not have been achieved in letters?

9.  What does a reader’s taste in books say about his or her personality?
Which characters'  literary opinions are most like your own? Did you have a favorite?

10. Do you agree with Isola that “reading good books ruins you for enjoying bad one"?
Are there some "good books"  you intend to read as a result of this book discussion?

Related Links: Author's Biography; Visit Guernsey ;   A history of Guernsey during the German Occupation 1940 - 1941 ; Charles Lamb - Selected Essays ; the letters of Seneca; Annie Barrows Responds to Readers

Discussion Leaders:  JoanP and Pedln

[BarbStAubrey]

I dragged my feet on the choice of this book - another WWII story I bemoaned - but thanks, this was not only a worthy story but with the questions and responses directed at better understanding the story I gained so much more than if I read it alone sitting in the corner of my sofa. Thanks...

A P.S. seems to me we  have had authors join us in the past - they all contribute in their own unique way - I do think part of why it worked was we did not look for an authority to explain the book, we enjoyed the process of discovering the inner workings of the story that often the author added to our discovery however, most were content to share their part of our reading realizing we as readers had our part in play. And so after, during or before does not seem to me to be a concern but rather that we as readers know and carry out our role -

As Harold Bloom says - "Information is endlessly available to us: where shall wisdom be found" - he says we read for the purest of all reasons; to discover and augment the self.

And the greats of how to read, Mortimer J. Adler and Charles Van Doren say, reading is about gaining increased understanding that is not available in other media forms since the other forms of media are filled with facts, statistics, data making thinking unnecessary. Reading is like catching a ball and knowing how to catch every ball that is thrown. The New Yorker says about their co-authored book How to Read, "It shows concretely how the serious work of proper reading may be accomplished..."

And so with a commitment to the work of proper reading I am looking forward to our next novel - thanks Pedlin and Joan for keeping us on track and to everyone who posted as we ventured towards finding the wisdom in the pages of the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society.

[JoanP]

Well, thank you, Barbara - but really, it was you all who kept us on track!  Thank YOU!
- I have to tell you before we move on, that during the pre-discussion I did attempt to make Will Thisbee's Potato Peel Pie.  I'm not sure if it tasted like Shepherd's Pie, but my Bruce ate it all, without a complaint.  He wouldn't have done this had it tasted like paste.
Gum commented at the time that the ingredients I used would not have been available to Will during the war years, but I thought I stuck pretty much to the basics...shredding potato peels, mixing with a bit of flour for the pie shell.  Then I mashed the potatoes for the filling, without adding milk and butter, which was quite dry, I'll admit.  I added sour cream, lots of it - was that cheating?  Some diced beets,  as I think Will did - and then the chives.  It really wasn't bad - odd, but not bad.. 

Jean, you have been  delight from the very beginning.  I hope to join you in Ella's house for Team of Rivals if my library comes through.
I do have Elegance of the Hedgehog here on my shelf, ready for April.  I hope to see many of you for that one.  I think it's one where your  input  will add much to the appreciation of Muriel Barbery's book.

"There is no such thing as a good book.  A book is good only when it meets some human hunger or refutes some human error."

Jude - the quote is from  Christopher Morley's Haunted Bookshop.   I've already put this on my   list for future reading. I'd like to ask  you if you agree with Isola when she says -

"Reading good books ruins you for enjoying bad one?"

Can a bad book meet some "human hunger?"  What exactly is a bad book, I wonder?

Traudee - I plan to look up Rilke - and Kafka, as we are planning a trip to Prague and Munich this summer.  Bruce wants me to learn to speak Czech, but I think I'm going to just brush up on my college German.  They will speak English in Prague...and German too, don't you think?
I was interested in the fact that Annie Barrows was "especially fond of Clovis Fossey because he is a true lover of poetry."  Did we  gravitate towards the characters who shared our literary tastes?  (More on Isola...)

Evelyn, thank you - I've taken your comments to heart -  "everyone had so much to say"  Perhaps in future discussions, rather than putting a number of questions for the week's discussion in the header all at once, we'll just include one or two questions a day for discussion.  Would that make for a better conversation? We could add another  question to the list each day  as we go along.  We are interested in hearing from EVERYONE of you!  (And remember those questions are just suggestions for discussions, not an essay test!    Maybe that wasn't clear to everyone.)

[BarbStAubrey]

Everyone reads Kafka's The Metamorphosis but to me the gem is, The Castle.

[JoanP]

Barbara, I did read Metamorphosis several times over the years -I think I'll follow your suggestion and give The Castle a try.

Babi, you have persuaded me to read Seneca's letters - for the wisdom within.  I especially appreciated: - 

"He considered that an intelligent, well-educated adult should be ‘producing bons mots, not quoting them."

I am quite sure I'd love to spend some time with  him!

I was also interested to read that you don't all necessarily agree with Annie Barrows on the epistolary novel - "that  it is better to have so many characters that no single one is responsible for all the story-telling"
( Traudee - I might just have to look into "Queen of the Tambourine", written by one person (who's a bit odd) to her neighbor, who never answers." I have read a number of interesting exhanges between two correspondants - 84 Charring Cross Rd comes to mind, but never one letter writer!)

But Laura, I agree with you when you say - "I  liked seeing the relationships evolve as the letters contain more and more personal information and take on more familiar rather than formal tones."
Annie Barrows also wrote - "it was tremendous fun to tell a story through so many voices. Each one gives the story a separate little charge, and each one has his or her own quirks and ideas."

Did we  gravitate towards the characters in the book who shared our literary tastes?   Most of us seem to have included Isola among our favoites - even with her journal entries. She was certainly the quirkiest character wasn't she?
Traudee found the humor a "godsend" - is humor a necessity when telling a grim story?
 How important was  Isola's character to the story?  She becomes "the catalyst for the happy ending." Without Isola, how do you think the story might have ended?

What did you think of Isola?  Was she real to you?  I'll tell you that I found her easier to  relate to than to Elizabeth...or to Juliet.  Do you see Isola "everyman" - (or everywoman  ) - to a certain extent? Or is it just me?  I recognize my own shortcomings and failures, in spite of my good intentions...

[BarbStAubrey]

I could see what  you mean by Isola being "every-wo-man" however, to me she seemed more like a Priestess - a Voodoo priestess giving out gres gres or a Curandera who heals with chants while brushing the air around your body  - their homes are always a jumble filled with color and mystery, birds or lizards and maybe a few cats - in today's world they appear a bit out of step - I think every culture has aspects of such a woman - often it is the grandmother type who annoys the neighbors because she grows tomatoes on her front lawn but brings soup to anyone who is ill and the kids know there is always a cookie and chat on her front porch.  They get it right in a circuitous fashion and the obvious flies by their nose. 

[EvelynMC]

JoanP - I loved this discussion.  You don't have to change a thing in your format.  --- I was simply apologizing for not posting more. --- Your questions gave us a lot to think about.

I'm looking forward to "The Elegance of the Hedgehog" and already have my book.

Thanks again to you and Pedlin for leading us.

Evelyn

[maryz]

Joan P, we went to Prague, Budapest, and Vienna in 2007 - one week in each city.  None of the four of us spoke even German (I'm sorry to say), and had no problem.  We were mostly on our own all the time.  With a bit of German, you'll do fine.

[Gumtree]

JoanP Your Potato Peel Pie sounds great and comes close to what I imagine it would be except the sour cream would be a no-no as the milk yield was so strictly accounted for and the flour which wasn't available. I think Dawsey tells us that after the flour ran out they crushed birdseed to make a flour until that ran out too.

Isola's comment that reading good books ruins you for enjoying bad ones is true to a certain extent - the good book wins out every time -but I don't think there has been a book written that can't teach me something so that can't be all bad.
Isola inferred that a bad book was one such as Amanda Gillyflower's Ill-Used by Moonlight-and  I daresay we can imagine what that was all about. The other books mentioned in the text were all genuine books so I googled for Amanda Gillyflower and her opus but didn't find anything...My guess is that it too was a real book -  now lost in the mists of time perhaps but known to one or other of our authors....

[BarbStAubrey]

Looks like there are a couple of Ill Met by Moonlight -

one by Sarah Hoyt
http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/h/sarah-a-hoyt/ill-met-by-moonlight.htm

and one by Mercedes Lackey and Roberta Gellis
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Ill-Met-by-Moonlight/Mercedes-Lackey/e/9780743498906

But as Gumtree you searched and found there is no Amanda Gillyflower

[Gumtree]

Yes Barbara - Ill Met by Moonlight is well known -But Miss Gillyflower's title was Ill USED by Candlelight. Hope you find it!

JoanP: It just came to me -  I think it was Pascal who said to the effect that 'there is no book so bad that nothing may be learned from it' No doubt you will have the correct quotation (being a French teacher and all )

[straudetwo]

JoanP, glad to know we have a little more time. After all, I do owe you the rest of my story. And since it is late even for a night owl like me, I'll post it tomorrow.
Good night

[BarbStAubrey]

The most well known work of Rainer Maria Rilke has to be his Duino Elegies - written at Castle Duino, a stony fortress perched on a bluff above the Adriatic, not far from Trieste - here it is - the First Elegy is about an impossible love, loneliness, angels - the  poem is long and a painful examination of life.  http://www.tonykline.co.uk/PITBR/German/Rilke.htm

[Steph]

I too will rejoin you in April for the Hedgehog.. Got book in hand this time.
I liked this one. Although I gently remind us that the book was meant to entertain us. A good deal of it about the war was interesting. I was not that impressed with either Elizabeth or Juliet, but enjoyed Isola and Dawsey and to a point, Young Kit. I was disappointed at the end.. Did not like the romance aspect, but could see it coming.

[Babi]

'there is no book so bad that nothing may be learned from it'

 Alas, Gumtree, I have to disagree with Pascal on this one.  I have picked up books that were so bad,  the only thing one could learn from them is that it's foolish to waste one's time on them. 

I hope to join you for "Elegance of the Hedgehog", too, assuming I can get my hands on one!
 See you there.  Since this is not a leap year, this is the last day of February.

[JoanP]

Good morning, Steph, Babi!  Happy to hear that you are both joining us for Hedgehog.  Do you know anything about hedgehogs, by the way?  Are they ever "elegant"?

I think there are many levels to enjoy a book - entertainment is certainly one of them.  And I think this book provided entertainment in different ways, for different tastes.  Maybe that's why we all were able to come away with some satisfaction - even if we didn't fully appreciate the ending.
Although the author has stated that the focus did not shift to  Isola at the end, I'm hearing that many of us (most of us?) loved Isola - identified with her more so than Juliet - or at  least were entertained by her.  Did you find yourself wondering about her future on Guernsey?  I wanted to know more about that.

Gum -  "there is no book so bad but something good may be found in it."  I tend to agree with you.
 Babi, you have no beef with  Pascal, (that I know of) - but rather Cervantes in his Don Quixote.  (Maybe when he wrote that, there weren't as many "bad books" printed, given the cost of printing in the 17th century!)
 Your mention of Pascal reminded me of Isola scraping off the gold embossed letters from the journal Sidney sent her. - She didn't like the "Pensées" (Thoughts) and so she wrote in "Facts" on the cover of her Detection notes.  Do you think she didn't like the French word, or was it simply because she didn't intend to write anything but the facts in her journal?

By the way - my favorite Pascal from his Pensées -
"Le coeur a ses raisons que la raison ne connaît point."
 "The heart has its reasons which reason knows not."

I joined your search for Isola's reference to  the Gillyflower book
 I didn't find much but you can still purchase a copy on ebay - if so inclined.  Clearly Isola was tired of these books written for young girls back in the 1900's.  Here's the
Gilly Flower book cover - notice that the author's name is not on the cover.  It was often  erroneously attributed to Evelyn Whitaker - but on the book cover you can read -  "author of  Honor Bright" - sometimes it says "author of Mrs. Toosey's Mansion."  Apparently there were a whole series of them.

Barbara, thank you for the Rilke - I spend some time on it earlier - and found it depressing.  Maybe I need to wait until I'm fully awake to appreciate him.  He was certainly prolific on the subject of Guardian Angels  - and the afterlife.  Thank you.  This will be required reading for Prague.

Maryz - thank you for your encouraging words - Bruce thinks that because I like to learn languages, I can sit down with a book and learn Czech, just like that!  Instead I will brush up on the German.

Traudee - we're not going anywhere until we hear the rest of your story - even if it isn't leap year!

[pedln]

Good morning everyone (actually almost afternoon).  I think I’ve lost a day worrying about hooking up with broadband, but it went like a breeze.  and what a difference.  No more getting cut off in the middle of posting, and getting to your links is so much easier.

It is such a joy to read your posts.

Did anyone consider that Elizabeth may have been Dawsey's first love (unrequited).

  from Gum

Yes, Gum, I definitely thought so at first, but then when Christian came along I thought Dawsey would have just shrugged his shoulders and thought, “so be it.”  And he would never give any indication, just continue to be a good friend.

The discussion here about your feelings on author input, author purposes, etc is fascinating.  And a very interesting parallel with the garden, Barbara.  I have mixed feelings.  I first read this book before Christmas and enjoyed it immensely.  But I enjoyed it even more rereading it here.  And that’s mainly because of this discussion and all of you.  I think I was a lazy reader the first time round.  But goaded, not by a rock, but by you all, it was very satisfying to learn more about the authors who were part of the book, as well as learning about what drove Barrows and Shaffer.

 My f2f group is reading it in June, after the paperback comes out, and I’m really excited about sharing many of your comments with the DL, who has already read it, so no spoilers. She doesn’t have Internet, so I’ll have to hogtie her somehow before the group meeets.. This will be archived, will it not? And we’ll never be able to confine this discussion to just an hour or so. We’ll be in our newly renoavated library then, so I’m thinking we should make it a luncheon meeting.  Joan’s  PPPie?  Naw.  This is bar-b-q land here.  We’ll have roast pig.   

And did we all go looking for Ms. Gillyflower and her book? ha ha.  Ill Met by Midnight appears to be pretty popular and did you notice that there was an Elizabeth in there?   

"There is no such thing as a good book.  A book is good only when it meets some human hunger or refutes some human error.  A book that is good for me would very likely be punk for you....There is no one so grateful as the man to whom you have just given the book his soul needed and he never knew it."

Jude, a wonderful quote.

And I like Isola’s “Reading good books spoils you for bad books.”  Remember the Queen in Uncommon Reader.  The more she read, the more she found how much easier it was  to read the books.

Did we  gravitate towards the characters in the book who shared our literary tastes?

   JoanP

I don’t think so.  Other than Isola, I didn’t really have a “favorite” character, but I really liked Dawsey.  He was special, but I’ve read little of Charles Lamb.

I missed the Rilke reference. Will have to look.

Did you find yourself wondering about her future on Guernsey?  I wanted to know more about that.

   joanp asks

Does anyone have an Epilogue?

[JudeS]

Traude

You mentioned that you published your story on the WREX site.  I also had a story published there.  Do you know what happened to that site?  I would like to continue to send in other stories I have written.What about you?

JoanP
In answer to your question (Or Isola's statement) "Do good books ruin you for bad ones.?  In my case DEFINITELY !
 I'm sure that everyone's definition of what a good book or a bad book is different.
However I feel that there are books for every mood. So , after reading many books of many genres I found out that sometimes I like a serious or a classic novel.  At other times (Especially on planes, trains or boats) I need what I call my escape novels which teach me nothing at all, do not make me think or contemplate and whisk me away to some thrilling, mysterious plot that I know will end in "the bad guy" down and the Hero waiting around for his or her next adventure. But the flight is over, the time has passed and I can leave the book on the plane for the next traveler.

I read very fast and consume many books.  My friends call me the "Bookie Monster".
I also read non fiction and in that category there are bad books, good books and great books.  But again each person has their personal taste, needs and curiosities. Notions which may change over time.

I have written a lot and I hope within the verbiage you find a cogent answer to your question.

Hope to meet up again.
Jude

[PatH]

I haven't posted a lot here, partly because it's been such a lively discussion that every thing was said, but I've been reading along, and have been amazed at all the good ideas.

JoanP and Pedlin, thanks for making the discussion such a good one.  SeniorLearn is certainly getting off to a roaring start.

[JoanP]

You are ALL so very welcome - it was really our joy to hear from so many of you.  It is your  voices and observations that made this such an exciting discussion, just as the different letter writers made the Guernsey story come alive.

Pedln, I think the potato peel pie would make a great side dish to the roast pig for your f2f meeting in June - as long as you don't listen to Gum's advice and cut down on the sour cream, (lots of sour cream) -  or substitute bird seed for flour! 

Though I loved Isola - it was really Juliet who got my attention at the end. The reasons are personal, but she made me look back at choices I made at her age - or failed to make.  I missed the carpe diem - the seizing of the day...and in hindsight, I missed out on something really important that could have changed my life.  I needed a catalyst back then, I needed an  Isola to open my eyes. 

Jude (Bookie Monster) - you are always "cogent"!  It was a pleasure to have you join us. Whenever I see a discarded paperback in an airport, I will think of you!
 We are looking forward to hearing from you - and PatH in April when we delve into the delights of Muriel Barbery's  Elegance of the Hedgehog.  THat looks like a great discussion starting out this morning in the Team of Rivals, Pat.  I'm waiting for my library copy to rise to the top of the hold list - but that's a long book and the list is long. 

Happy Sunday, wherever you are! - We are all about ice and snow here in the DC area - to the grandsons' delight. 

[JoanR]

Thank you, Joan and Pedln for a wonderful discussion and thanks, too, to all those who left such interesting and thoughtful posts that I, so busy reading and absorbing them, completely failed to post much myself!  There were so many leads to other works and so many good analyses that I just sat back in admiration.  I believe that I have learned something about the close reading of a text and expect to get more now out of any book that I choose to read with any amount of attention.  Thank you everyone!

[Steph]

On hedgehogs, Yes there is a pygmy hedgehog that is simply elegant..Tiny and bristled and then tiny eyes peeping at you..
I loved being back into the discussions. Such fun and such different thoughts.. See you all in April

[Babi]

JOANP, so glad to hear Pascal is not responsible for that quote. Gumtree thought it might be him, but now we can both blame it on Cervantes.

  Juliet is my favorite character, too.  All the way through, it is her interest in, and appreciation of, the people around her that brings them alive to us.  Falling in love with Kit was so natural, and so life-defining.  And having the good sense and character to value a Dawsey over a Mark really sold me.

Thank you for a lovely time...
 

[pedln]

I believe that I have learned something about the close reading of a text and expect to get more now out of any book that I choose to read with any amount of attention.
from

JoanR

Beautifully said, JoanR, and you have expressed my feelings as well. But can I do it alone? Not sure.

Just for fun, (and because it makes swimming laps more interesting) I’ve composed a little epilogue here.  Please feel free to pick up any pieces and add on.

It is now 1976.  Yes, best friends forever, Eli and Kit were married when she finished university, and now have three children – Lizzie, Charles Daws, and Solly.  Eben has helped Eli get started and he now has a thriving charter-fishing business, and they both manage Ambrose House, which has become a thriving year-round small hotel, with many repeat guests, especially families.  Their favorite guests are the Dominic Strachens who come from Scotland every year with their children.  Kit combines being an entrepreneur along with illustrating and writing children’s stories about the natural life on Guernsey.  Family getogethers are never complete until the grandfathers read tales from Mary and Charles Lamb. The children also love to hear the tale of the hidden pig and how the GLAPPPS came into being.  Kit is secretary this year and Solly claims when she grows up she’ll be sergeant at arms.

[straudetwo]

Sorry to be late.  I had my grandson (12) here for the weekend - a rare pleasure; he just left.
The kitchen at least is clean,  but the fridge needs an overhaul.  And I am worn out. Thank goodness I'll have help tomorrow morning, so please don't give up on me!   Thank you.

[EvelynMC]

Pedlin,

Loved your epilogue.  What a wonderful end to a beautiful story.

P.S. I swim laps too. 

Evelyn

[PatH]

I swim laps too, and enjoy the way my thoughts wander while I do it.  Deems and I have swum at the same YMCA for many, many years, and have never once run into each other there.

[straudetwo]

pedln,  the epilogue -what a lovely idea! Some books do engage us in a special way and resonate with us longer.

This made me think - in broad terms only, mind you - of Alice Randall and her book "The Wind Done Gone", a parody of GWTW, told by a half-sister of Scarlet.  The estate of Margaret Mitchell sued but the case was settled and the book published. I've always wanted to read it but never did.  So many book, so little time!

Barbara,  I learned how important symbols are when I read "The Dead",  the last of the stories in  James Joyce's
 "The Dubliners".

JocanP, 'humor' really wasn't the right word, nor was 'levity'.  But what  I meant to express IS in  the GLPPPS.
Without a certain lightheartedness, life would be unbearable - and literature mirrors that.
 
It is quite possible that Dawsey held a torch for Elizabeth, as Gumtree indicated. He was her treasured friend --  and present when Kit was born(!)

My introduction to Kafka was the novella  "Die Verwandlung" (the Metamorphosis), and I was devastated - because of the sadness and the autobiograpical aspects of it.
The most chilling for me to read was "The Trial",  perhaps Kafka never finished it.  He suffered from TB and entrusted the manuscript  to his friend Max Brod with instructions to dispose of it. Intead,  after Kafka's death Max Brod went ahead and published the book with the title "Das Urteil", and successively all of Kafka's work.  Kafka wrote in German. 

Joan, not o worry. English is widely spoken and understood in eastern Europe. Scores of Americans have settled in Prague, which is also known as "the golden city". It was the capital of the Kingdom of Bohemia and the center of political and cultural life. It belonged to the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which ended in 1918.   An immense areal which included also parts of what became the former Yugoslavia, e.g. Croatia and Istria. Yugoslavia is no more. Czechoslovia is no more.
That arbitrary construct in 1919 was an ill-considered union: the people didn't even speak the same language! After WW II, Czechoslovakia was under Russian domination like all of eastern Europe. In the aftermath of the breakup of the Soviet Union, Czechoslovakia  was separated into the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

Five or six years ago, our AAUW branch had a guest speaker at one of the general meetings,  a young Czech girl and exchange student from Prague, who lived with an American host family in our fair town. Her English was superb. We quizzed her about all kinds of things, and it struck me how much she looked and behaved like one of our own sixteen or seventeen-year old girls.
Life goes on.
================================================
Wll be back instantly

[straudetwo]

Here I am. Back with the story.

It was widely believed that Heidelberg would be "spared", and it was.  US Headquarters were housed there after the war. By the end of 1944 my work there was done, finals over and my thesis accepted. The cell decided to suspend meetings because some of us were shadowed. I was one of them.  I packed up what I had and boarded the train to join my parents.
After the bombing in Mannheim they had been resettled in the village where my father was born. In two rooms, one of which was the kitchen, no toilet.  My father was getting worse, the doctor from the neighboring village now came twice a week to give him his injection. My mother held it together - with great difficulty and her famous 'iron will'.

She reproached me for not writing,  but I assured her I had. (I suspected at once that my mail had been held for inspection.)

An ardent admirer of Hitler, she angrily confronted me in the middle of the kitchen and said, "I don't know what you have been doing there in Heidelberg, you never tell me anything. Whatever it is, you better change your ways or I'll  tell the Gestapo on you..." !  I can't remember what I answered.

It was December. I don't remember Christmas. I do remember an official-looking letter from a party agency in Munich that ordered me to report there on the second Monday in January 1945 for an unspecified position. I was convinced it was a ruse and decided on flight. All the borders were closed, except the one with Italy.  I had a valid passport and a avisa for Italy in it. I told my parents only what was absolutely necessary.  My mother packed a suitcase in total silence.

The train station was about two kilometers away. In the night before I was to leave it snowed and kept snowing. We loaded my suitcase on a borrowed wheelbarrow and pulled it through the snow.  Train schedules were no longer reliable. British spitfires were known to make random attacks  to decommission the locomotives of trains in rural areas; long delays were the result. It would have been unnecessarily painful for my mother to wait with me.  Our parting was strained.

This was farming country and one of those slow trains that stop at every milk can took me to the city.  There I caught a  night train, an express for Italy via Munich, Innsbruck, to the Brenner border, Verona and beyond. Passport control was uneventful.  A new engine was put on the train at the border, the German personnel got off,  Italian personnel came on.  I was the only person in the compartment. The curtains were closed, the light dim.

After more than two and a half years, in September 1947, I got on an express train in the opposite direction with a new passport issued in Rome courtesy of the International Red Cross (I'll be eternally grateful to them), duly equipped with all the necessary stamps the Italians require.  The train was overcrowded - standing room only. 

I don't know how our resistance cell ranked numerically.  Later, and after the fact,  the world learned that a similar cell had existed in Munich, known as the "The White Rose", mentored  by a professor  at the  university of Munich. Members Sophie Scholl, her brother Hans and two other students were caught  in 1943,  for distributing leaflets with anti-war messages, and executed after a short trial.   Nothing whatsoever was published in the press at the time.

Three German movies have been made about the group, and a monument was built in the grop's honor of them.  Google has the information.

[JoanP]

Traudee, thank you for sharing your story with us.  It was certainly worth the wait. You bring us a view from the inside of what life was like in Germany during the war. Life went on - as it did on Guernsey.

By the end of 1944 my work there was done, finals over and my thesis accepted.

Heidelburg was spared - you went on with your classes - as usual.  Except for your student activism, which could have cost you your life! What did you do, exactly?  I imagine you handing out anti-war leaflets.  How were they received by the Heidelbergers? Was there much anti-war sentiment brewing in Heidelberg?  Did your student group actually believe that Hitler could be stopped?

Meanwhile, your mother, who had survived the Mannheim bombing remained "an  ardent admirer of Hitler" - even threated to turn you in to the Gestapo.  Do you really think she would have - or was she frightened for you and trying to protect you? How many German citizens remained Hitler's admirers to the end.  I can't imagine what a strain this was between you and your mother.  Did you have any siblings in Mannheim who stayed with her?
What were things like when you returned in 1947?
Traudee, we could do a whole discussion on your wartime experience!  Thank you for taking the time to share it with us.

[pedln]

PatH, I knew that y ou and Maryal swam in the same place, but I was thinking it was the Montgomery County swim facility in Bethesda where I have gone several times with my DIL.  I won’t look for you there anymore.

Traude, thank you for sharing what must be a very difficult memory.  I think about you being so young, traveling all alone, and in such a precarious position, wondering if you were being sought by authorities.  You were very brave.

We quizzed her about all kinds of things, and it struck me how much she looked and behaved like one of our own sixteen or seventeen-year old girls.

    from traude

Years ago, when TV was new, it was deemed an equalizer, for whether y ou lived in a big city or very small hamlet, it gave you some idea of what was going on in the rest of the country. [along with Seventeen magazine]  Now, of course, modern technology, with a few exceptions, has brought the world to everyone’s doorstep.

Again, thank you everyone for making this discussion the success it was.

[Tomereader1]

Wonderful discussion, and thank you Traude for your story!

Just as an aside, I obtained from Netflix, the 3 discs entitled "The Islands at War".  This was a very well-done movie, and having just read GLPPPS, I kept looking for characters or situations from that, knowing full well it was a totally different thing, but funny how the mind works sometime, isn't it?  (There are two episodes on each of the three discs). 

[straudetwo]

JoanP and pedln, it was difficult to write about the past and harder still to allude here, in a a public forum,  to the difficult relationship I had with my mother. I felt it was important in the context and did not intend to speak ill of the dead.  De mortuis nil nisi bonum.

Thank you and all participants for an exceptional, sensitive discussion.

[JoanP]

Traude, we are grateful to you for sharing your story. Reliving those years must be difficult for you.  We can't even begin to imagine the repercussions throughout your life.  My thoughts go back to the book and the underlying theme.  Somehow you coped and life goes on.

Tomereader - I remember watching Islands at War so closely, looking for glimpses of Guernsey, only to learn that it was filled on the Isle of Man.  Close enough.  I did wonder at the time  why they filmed there rather than Guernsey, though.  I'm smiling thinking of you looking for situations - or characters that might resemble those we came to know.

One of my sons was a competitive swimmer.  I asked him a number of times what he thought about as he practiced all those laps.  He said he did his best thinking then - not deliberately, but that thoughts and solutions just came to him as he swam back and forth.

I'm waiting for the rest of the Epilogue, Pedln - can't wait to find learn what became of Isola in those years between 1946 and 1976...I'll bet she never married but wrote several  novels, romance and mysteries.   

Thanks to all of you for making this  such a rich rewarding experience.  We also thank Annie Barrows for finishing the book which her aunt started and for her generous response to our questions.  And of course, we need to thank Mary Ann Shaffer for bringing us  The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society in the first place.

[Steph]

Funny, both of our sons swam for swim teams for years.. Now our eldest is a triathlete, even at 48..I do remember asking them how they handled the long hours in the pools and they both agreed it was a great place to work out problems.
I walk every morning very early.. about 5 or 5:30 am.. I do it for health, but have discovered over the years, that it clears my head and makes me face a day easier. When we are traveling and I cannot walk, I am cranky all day..

[JoanP]

Steph, I have great admiration for your discipline!  Did you learn this from your son?  My swimmer is 38 - still does Masters Swimming.  I'm afraid his regime did not rub off on me.

Our SL swimmers have dried off and left the pool.  I guess we will have to write our own epilogues to Isola's story in the years following Juliet and Dawsey's wedding.  You can bet she continued to play a big part in their lives.  Maybe she reopened Mr. Fox's books store!

This discussion will take up residence in our Archives for those of you who plan to discuss it in your f2f discussions.  There is so much good information in all of your posts.

Also, here is the final version of Annie Barrow's "interview" - wasn't she wonderful and forthcoming!  Thanks Annie!  And special thanks to all of YOU!

Annie Barrows Responds to SeniorLearn Readers