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I always keep my ears open for new costume dramas coming out and add them to my To Watch list. A few months ago, I added The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society to that list. I didn’t know anything about it. Since I’ve been on a historical fiction bender lately, I decided to check out what my library had for historical fiction and the audiobook for Guernsey… by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows was available, so I snatched it up. Even then, I still didn’t know anything about it. I’m a sucker for books with weird names.

I finished the book this afternoon and almost cried when it finished because I didn’t want it to end. It was lovely. It was sweet. It was funny, devastating and full of heart. It desperately made me wish I could write a book even half as good.

I didn’t even know the book was written in the form of letters when I picked it out, but I’ve always loved books that can do that effectively. I quickly came to adore the hero, Juliet, a London-based journalist who starts writing to several members of a book club formed on the island of Guernsey during the German occupation. She eventually goes to visit her new penpal friends on Guernsey and sets out to write a book about the German occupation.

It’s a great story for book lovers, as all of the characters come together because of their love of books. I know it’s a bit cliché, but I kind of want to go visit Guernsey now, which is something, considering I wasn’t even sure where Guernsey was before I started the book. Now I’ve checked out their tourism website several times…

I’m buying a physical copy of the book just so I have it. No pressure, but the movie has a lot to live up to.

• The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society on Amazon