The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society: Part 1: 19 Feb, 1946 Summary & Analysis

Isola Pribby, the sergeant-at-arms for the Society, writes to Juliet. She praises Juliet for writing a biography of Anne Brontë; Isola loves all the Brontë sisters and their work. She expresses distaste for the girls' father and brother, and suggests that Emily Brontë had to devise Heathcliff to make up for her disappointing male family members. Isola says that she loves the Brontë sisters because she loves stories of passionate encounters, as Isola is single and likes to daydream. She says she didn't begin to like Wuthering Heights until Cathy's ghost appeared. Now, she thinks that good literature like Wuthering Heights ruins a person for enjoying bad books.

Isola tells Juliet about herself. She lives in a small cottage near Amelia's farm and has chickens, a goat, and a parrot. She sells vegetables and elixirs at market every week, and Elizabeth's four-year-old daughter, Kit, helps stir the elixirs. Isola describes herself as ugly and too tall. She offers to write again and to tell Juliet about how reading helped her get through the occupation. She says the only time that reading didn't help was when Elizabeth was caught hiding a Todt laborer and was sent to a prison in France. They're still waiting for Elizabeth to come home.