Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows: Two Authors, One Great Book
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One thing that surprised me, in doing a bit of research on the authors of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, is that they are not British. Mary Ann Shaffer, who conceived the book and wrote most of it, was born in Martinsburg, West Virginia in 1934. Her niece, Annie Barrows, was born in San Diego in 1962.

In an interview with Danielle Marshall of Powells.com, Barrows said, “Our book paths coincided a lot. I grew up in the next town from my aunt Mary Ann and her family, so our families were really, really close. Several times we were employed in the same place. When I was 12 years old, I was hired at the tiny San Anselmo Public Library. I worked in the children’s room and Mary Ann worked upstairs. Later on we worked in a bookstore called ‘A Clean Well-Lighted Place for Books.’ ”

While Shaffer had often dreamed of writing a book that “someone would like enough to publish,” the impetus for her novel came quite by chance: Visiting London in 1976, she decided on a whim to fly to the Channel island of Guernsey and became stranded there when a thick fog prevented boats and planes from leaving. As she waited for the fog to lift, she read “all the books in the Guernsey airport bookstore, including Jersey under the Jack-Boot. She was fascinated by the response of the Guernsey residents to the German occupation of their island during World War II. Her family and reading group eventually convinced Shaffer to combine her knowledge of the period with her imagination and write a book about it.

The book took several years. It was nearly finished when failing health caused Shaffer to seek assistance in completing it. Her choice to fill this role was Annie Barrows, her niece and a fellow author.

Barrows had graduated from the University of California at Berkeley, where she had studied medieval history. Over the years she had edited instructional materials, magazines, short stories and “finally, books.” She was married and the mother of two girls. She held an MFA.

When she started her writing career, Barrows had particularly enjoyed writing about topics she did not know much about and would have to research intensively; classical opera and palm-reading were among them. She eventually discovered she loved writing children’s books, and her works include the Ivy and Bean series and The Magic Half.

The collaboration of Shaffer and Barrows on Guernsey was a smooth one, reflecting their mutual love and respect. Mary Ann Shaffer died at age 73 in February 2008, shortly before the book was published. Speaking about her aunt after the book’s publication, Barrows said, “Having had Mary Ann in my family was an incredible stroke of luck for me. Now, finally, everyone has Mary Ann in their family. That’s wonderful.”

Maxine Williams,Reading Across RI Committee Member

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