Watch 'Downton Abbey’s' Lily James in the Trailer for ‘The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society’

Downton Abbey’s Lily James stars as Juliet Ashton in ‘The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society’. (Photo courtesy of Studiocanal ©2017)

A bunch of our Downton Abbey fan favorites are reuniting for a brand new film based on a popular novel with one of the best titles ever created.

Originally published in 2008, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society was written by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows. It tells the story of journalist Juliet Ashton, who forms a life-changing bond with the members of the titular book club when she journeys to Guernsey, one of the small Channel Islands between the United Kingdom and France. She ultimately decides to write about their club and the experiences they shared during the Nazi occupation of the island during World War II.

(FYI: If you haven’t read this book – run, don’t walk and grab a copy. It’s so good!)

Downton alum Lily James stars as Juliet, and she’s joined by several other familiar faces from Highclere, including Matthew Goode, Jessica Brown Findlay and Penelope Wilton. Other notable names include Game of Thrones’ Michael Huisman, who plays Juliet’s love interest Dawsey Adams, as well as Doc Martin’s Katherine Parkinson and Little Dorrit’s Tom Courtenay.

Watch the trailer for yourselves below:

 

The film will arrive in theaters on April 20 in the U.K. There’s no official U.S. release date yet for The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, but the novel was a big hit in the States. (And pretty much everywhere else, too.)

It was a #1 New York Times bestseller, spent 11 weeks on their list and sold over 7.5 million copies in 37 countries. So I can’t imagine it’ll be too long before this film makes its way across the pond to us. It’s just, as usual, we’re going to have to wait to find out for sure just when that will be. Fingers crossed that it won't be too long! 

Are you excited about the prospect of a Guernsey film? Did you read the novel? Let’s discuss in the comments.


Lacy Baugher

Lacy's love of British TV is embarrassingly extensive, but primarily centers around evangelizing all things Doctor Who, and watching as many period dramas as possible.

Digital media type by day, she also has a fairly useless degree in British medieval literature, and dearly loves to talk about dream poetry, liminality, and the medieval religious vision. (Sadly, that opportunity presents itself very infrequently.) York apologist, Ninth Doctor enthusiast, and unabashed Ravenclaw. Say hi on Threads or Blue Sky at @LacyMB. 

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