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Mary Ann Shaffer (1934–2008)

Author of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

2+ Works 20,029 Members 1,290 Reviews 10 Favorited

About the Author

Mary Ann Shaffer was an American writer, editor, librarian, and a bookshop worker. She was born on December 13, 1934 in West Virginia. She later moved to California where she married and raised two daughters. She worked in the public libraries of San Anselmo, San Rafael and Larkspur. She then moved show more on to become an editor at Harper & Row. She is known for her posthumously published work The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, which she wrote with her niece, Annie Barrows. (Bowker Author Biography) show less

Works by Mary Ann Shaffer

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1940s (58) 2008 (73) 2009 (156) 2010 (76) adult (55) audiobook (79) book club (240) book clubs (75) books (119) books about books (130) British (86) Channel Islands (368) ebook (63) England (502) epistolary (410) epistolary novel (89) favorites (92) fiction (1,721) friendship (183) German occupation (243) Guernsey (474) historical (187) historical fiction (1,060) history (123) humor (65) Kindle (85) letters (403) literature (110) London (70) love (89) novel (167) occupation (82) own (81) read (222) read in 2009 (102) romance (279) to-read (872) war (163) writers (67) WWII (1,513)

Common Knowledge

Legal name
Shaffer, Mary Ann Fiery
Birthdate
1934-12-13
Date of death
2008-02-16
Gender
female
Nationality
USA
Birthplace
Martinsburg, West Virginia, USA
Place of death
San Anselma, California, USA
Places of residence
Martinsburg, West Virginia, USA
California, USA
Occupations
writer
librarian
editor
bookseller
Relationships
Barrows, Annie (niece)
Agent
Liza Dawson
Short biography
Mary Ann Shaffer (December 13, 1934 – February 16, 2008) was an American writer, editor, librarian, and a bookshop worker. She is noted for her posthumously published work The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, which she wrote with her niece, Annie Barrows.

Mary Ann Fiery was born on December 13, 1934 in Martinsburg, West Virginia. She had an older sister, Cynthia. They were raised in nearby Romney, West Virginia, but moved back to Martinsburg and went to high school there. Mary Ann is an alumna of Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. She married Carl Richard Shaffer in 1956, and in 1958 they moved to California, where they raised two daughters, Morgan and Liz. She worked in the public libraries of San Anselmo; Larkspur; and San Rafael during her career. She also worked at Harper & Row, advancing from a receptionist position to an editor's chair.

She died at her home in San Anselmo on February 16, 2008.

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An enjoyable quick read, but the voices do not ring true for that period
 
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annecm | 1,263 other reviews | Nov 26, 2024 |
March book club - what an incredible book! I loved the style it was written in, with written letters going from person to person!! and the humor of Juliet! I laughed so much during this book. a great light read. I'm so glad I read it!
 
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Trisha_Thomas | 1,263 other reviews | Nov 14, 2024 |
I found this quite a delightful read. The ending was rather obvious from rather early on in the book, however I did not envision quite the way in which the author was going to resolve it.
 
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tinabuchanan | 1,263 other reviews | Nov 13, 2024 |
This book is excellent, and I loved listening to the audio book version of it. There were different voices reading each of the characters' letters (some of them might have been the same actor, but they sounded different). It's hard to get their accents out of my head. I'm American, but in my mind I keep reading back whatever I type with a British accent.

I think enough people have read this that I don't need to comment on it too much--a WWII story that addresses the horrors and sorrows of war, but also warms the heart and leaves the reader with a feeling of hope.

Probably the only qualm I have about it is the title, because it turned me off of the book at first before I knew what it was about (I didn't know what Guernsey was). If 3 people hadn't recommended it to me, I probably would have assumed from the title that it was a bland chick lit book about a ragtag bunch of girlfriends' book club, and not have bothered to read it. I'm glad that didn't happen though, because I would have sorely missed out.

Wonderful book. I cried.
… (more)
 
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word.owl | 25 other reviews | Nov 12, 2024 |

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Statistics

Works
2
Also by
2
Members
20,029
Popularity
#1,082
Rating
4.2
Reviews
1,290
ISBNs
113
Languages
20
Favorited
10

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