The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society is a 2018 historical romance set in the aftermath of World War II, when a writer forms an unexpected bond with the some very interesting people.
As intended, there’s a fantastical flare about the look and feel of Mike Newell‘s latest drama, based on the novel by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows. It has a sort of romanized sheen that purposefully plays it whimsical even as it recounts often desperately serious tales of a very dark time. This leaves it a delightfully light romp while hitting a number of significant emotional highs and lows that manage to color this with plenty of surprises, thanks to some terrific performances and another solid effort from the director.
Just after the end of World War II, in England, young and promising writer Juliet Ashton (Lily James) is kind of at a crossroads, working under a pseudonym while her manager, Sidney (Matthew Goode) continues to offer support. One day, she is contacted by Dawsey Adams (Michiel Husiman), a man living on a Channel island of Guernsey, which was heavily occupied by the Germans in the war, telling her of the The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society, which was used to counter Nazi intelligence. Taken by the tales of intrigue, Juliet heads to the island and meets the still running book club, including Dawsey, Isola Pribby (Katherine Parkinson), Eben Ramsey (Tom Courtenay), and Amelia Maugery (Penelope Wilton). She learns of some terrible truths, most especially that of Elizabeth McKenna (Jessica Brown Findlay), a founding member who was arrested and taken away, while slowly getting closer to Dawsey. This only complicates her relationship with Markham Reynolds (Glen Powell), an American soldier who has plans of his own with Juliet.
The biggest leap is the title, a tongue-twister that will leave most giving up on trying to remember. It’s a mouthful and while this sort of verbal gymnastics in the name of a movie isn’t new, it’s a bit of a hurdle here. Still, it’s said often enough and with great resolve (right from the opening scene), so you eventually warm to it. More so, we warm to Juliet, a strong-willed and talented author who is struggling to find her way, forced to give up her name to find a publisher and now caught up in a new mystery that might be motivation to push her into new lights.
The film is a bit of a juggling act as it deals with very real trauma and devastation as the small farming community of Guernsey struggles to cope in the aftermath of some very tough times. Still, Newell isn’t interested in making this too dismal, with plenty of movies showcasing the horrors of war. This is instead a rather simple take following a mostly straight line, conflicts maybe a little too obvious but at least handled well. There are some honestly very powerful moments amid the charms, all in the name of what happened to the good people of the island at the hand of the Nazis, including the mystery surrounding one of their own. These make for some well-earned and affecting turns in the story.
James is very good here, too, as is most of the cast despite the trappings of the premise. Love in a time of chaos and catastrophe have long made some of the best in the genre so impactful, and while The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society might not have the lasting appeal of such, it’s a worthy mystery and compelling corner of history most have surely never visited before.