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Part 1: 21 Jan, 1946
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Literature and Connection
Family, Parenting, and Legitimacy
War, Hunger, and Humanity
Women, Marriage, and Work
Summary
Analysis
Writing to Sidney, Juliet expresses disbelief at the sales figures for Izzy Bickerstaff Goes to War. She says that traveling to promote her book is exhilarating, and she loves hearing other women's stories of the war. She asks if Sidney remembers Juliet and Sophie's boss when they worked in his bookshop. He'd order extra books so they could read them. Juliet says that she and Sophie were experts at introducing customers to new books because of this and asks Sidney to send extra reader's copies to bookshops that order Izzy.
Again, the best part of the tour for Juliet is getting to connect with other people after so many years spent feeling isolated during the war. Her request that Sidney send out extra readers' copies for salespeople at bookshops indicates that even though Juliet is no longer working that job, she still feels a sense of connection to those who do and wants to continue to foster that by providing books.
Themes
In addition to managing the book tour, Juliet says that Susan has also given her a makeover. Juliet has had a haircut, acquired new cosmetics, and Susan even talked her into buying a new dress. Juliet laments that she'll have to wait on new shoes. She says that now, she looks lively and youthful instead of old and bedraggled. Juliet remarks on the fact that there's more stringent rationing now than there was during the war, and she privately resents that so many Europeans who need assistance are Germans. In closing, Juliet explains she's stopping in to see Sophie and offers to pass on messages for Sidney.
The comments that Juliet makes about rationing suggests that while the war may have been over for about a year by this point, it continues to seriously affect people and curtail their lives in significant ways. Looking lively again allows Juliet to feel as though she's healing and helps her to move on, though it should be noted that Juliet was relatively lucky to make it through the war and the Blitz alive—others, like Remy later, weren't so lucky.
Themes
