Living the Life in a Book

My sister and I both read Annie Barrows' Guernsey Literary & Potato Peel Society earlier this year and loved it.  It's a great book - written in letters, easy to follow, touchingly presented and historical.  I hadn't realized that Guernsey - part of England's Channel Islands - was occupied by the Nazi's in WW2.  The characters are wonderful and the multi dimensional love stories are very engaging.  Turns out that what connects all these people, across miles, time and nationality is one woman, Elizabeth, who has incredible spirit, courage, beauty and kindness of heart.  A great story.

Usually, I read a book, love it, blog about it, tell five friends and then buy it for a few people.  Wendy, my sister, outdid me here.  She convinced me that we really should GO to Guernsey.

She was inspired by the book, but her conviction was solidified when she was on holiday in Antigua this past winter and met a family from Guernsey.  Those people were very nice and said, as we all often do on holiday, "Oh yes, come visit."  That is a very dangerous thing to say to a Miller sister.

We showed up in October.

I had said to her, "Are you sure you want to go to Guernsey?  I mean, what do we do there?  Look at cows?  Read books?  Walk in meadows?"

Wendy was undaunted.  Turns out that Guernsey is lovely.   The cows are plentiful and gentle.  (And brown.) Wendy's new friends were incredibly kind to us, and had us over to dinner twice plus drove us around the island and helped us find the best ice cream - made from Guernsey cow milk, of course! Delicious.  The butter is also pretty amazing.

The island is rough - which makes for beautiful cliff walks.  We did a lot of that. We also ate good seafood, explored museums, rode our bikes around the small country roads (and I mean small as in narrow - two cars can not pass on many of them, so there is a bit of backing up).   They have their own currency and tax laws, so if you want to keep your money there, they welcome that.

I love it when you visit a place and the locals give you a flavor for whatever makes them most proud.  In this case, I heard a few of them tell me, "Oh, we don't belong to England. England belongs to us!"

The story is that way back in the day, when the Gaul commander later known to us as William the Conqueror came over to attack England, the Channel Islands were part of Gaul. Yes, this was 1165 or whatever.  The army stopped at the islands to rest/refuel, and picked up a few local Guernsey-an soldiers.  Thus, the Guernsey people were among the conquering army.   They win.  Get it?

A friend who is British and lives in London hears this story and says, "Huh.  You know this was all a long time ago?  Clearly they are part of England now."

Talk about local pride ;)

Even if you don't actually go to the Channel Islands, I recommend reading Barrows' Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

Comments

[Carly Brantz]

I am actually reading it now! I think it is wonderful you and your sister traveled there, I will think of you on your bike as a I finish the book.

[Jennifer Wilson]

Hi Sam! I was wondering whether your trip was inspired by the book. Guernsey landed on my travel list, too, after reading that amazing book! Hope you are well.