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10 Days One Guernsey Summer

Dirk on Amazon.co.uk -  Kindle

Testimonials from people who have read 10 Days One Guernsey Summer

This is a great read. Can you imagine living on a small British island and watching the Nazi war machine just a few miles away? Will they come? Will they bother? Tony paints a picture of ordinary family life in Guernsey, where the focus of everyday work is the tomato whilst, just over the water, for the Luftwaffe, the focus of everyday work is death. For Guernsey folk, the ordinary soon becomes the extraordinary. As Tony says, what would you have done for your family? I'm glad that he was able to record tales of those times for posterity. Lest we forget!

Interesting story, as it helps to understand the confusion in Guernsey during June 1940, culminating in the occupation of the island by German forces on the 30th June 1940. I wont say too much on the background, just read it!!

C Martin  on Amazon.co.uk - Paperback

Great book about our beautiful Island of Guernsey during the war, of love and an amazing family...loved it loads. I’m not really a book reader and once I'd picked this up I couldn't put it down...it made me smile and cry just loved it...Thank you  xx

Ali Hughes  on Amazon.co.uk/Facebook - Paperback

CrumbllyPam  on Amazon.co.uk - Kindle

A lovely human story - could really feel the atmosphere. My only criticism would be the actual writing, certain little errors but this may have been the transfer to Kindle

Really enjoyed this read ! I was walking around with them!

Karen de Cartert on Facebook

This book is so interesting ,and conveys the heartache that Guernsey families had having to send their children to safety as war was approaching the Islands . The book records one family also the German Pilot in charge of the bombing squad fascinating to read . I was born on Guernsey near the end of the occupation and this story enforces tales about those terrible days , and my partners relative was the man on the lifeboat ,and my son in laws grandfather was killed when they bombed the lorries !! Well done to Tony Brassell ,well written informative and will bring back many memories to those that stayed or were evacuated . Hope many people will also enjoy your book .

Carol Prialx  on Amazon.co.uk - Paperback

Great book. I live in Guernsey and my parents were here in the war so its good to read. I love the 3 aspects throughout the book with different characters.

CE KE Langlois on Amazon.co.uk - Kindle

I really enjoyed this book, so many memories of growing up post- war in beautiful Guernsey. My parents were separated by the occupation of the island, so the story is an emotional one for me. Very well researched.

Moira on Amazon

John Moore from Sunderland by email

This book is an excellent read that I would recommend to everyone. It follows 3 different views of the 10 days before the occupation. Having visited the beautiful island a number of times I know that the Germans left their mark not just on the landscape but with the folk who lived through it. The history of the events has now been transcribed in this excellent book.

I have just finished reading your book - " Ten days one Guernsey Summer". You do not know me and I do not know you; congratulations on a story well told of desperate time's, when your family's World stood on the edge of the abyss - I was deeply touched.

John James via LinkedIn

June Vizard through Facebook

I thoroughly enjoyed this book! I lived every moment through it! Albeit, through my grandparents that were there at this time, also as a teenager my father!

Wayne Cornelius on Amazon

I am a serious World War II history buff, and this past summer I spent a week on Guernsey to experience what remains of the five-year German occupation of this island first-hand. It is a fascinating time capsule, and Tony Brassell's book was an invaluable introduction to these events and their human consequences. Based loosely on the experiences of his own grandmother and grandfather, Brassell's book provides the best account that I have seen of the harrowing choice that had to be made by Guernsey residents between evacuation to England (before the Germans invaded) and toughing out the inevitable occupation. Brassell tells a compelling story with vivid detail and unique insight. His book is a significant contribution to World War II historical fiction and to our understanding of the unique experiences of the Channel Islands, the only pieces of British territory to be occupied by Germany.

I’ve just finished reading this on my Kindle it’s a great read- I couldn’t put it down, it made me appreciate what Guernsey was like in the war years. Waiting I read more! Congratulations Tony!

Michele, on Kindle

Not really a book reader but this one enticed me! Have to say thoroughly enjoyed it and reckon it would make an excellent film. May have even got me back reading books again.

M B Gallienne, Paperback on Amazon

If you loved "The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society" then read this book!

July 11, 2018

Yes, Guernsey is one of the British Channel Islands, and this book explores the time period leading up to the Nazi invasion of World War II in June of 1940. The author wrote three interwoven stories. One storyline involves a Nazi pilot, Bernard, as he follows orders on bombing runs to France, England, and eventually the Channel Islands. Another storyline involves two anguished parents living in Guernsey who can send only their school-aged daughter to safety in England, and the third storyline follows that of their daughter, Rachel, as she adapts to life as one of the refugee children. The well-paced book covers only ten days, leading up to the Nazi occupation, and while this is a work of fiction, it rings true, from the types of planes used to the places on the island. Not surprising, the author based this novel on stories of his family during this time period combined with his in-depth research. "The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society", one of my favorite books, helped me to understand life during the Nazi occupation, and this book gave me stories of the days before the Nazis landed in the Channel Islands. I highly recommend this book!

5 Star Review on Amazon.com from Suzanne Payne in the USA - Kindle Purchase

Nazi Germany/Guernsey Islands

July 12, 2018

Format: Paperback

Again a story set amidst the Great War and one in an idyllic setting. Actually all the stories I've read have been idyllic settings.


This one amongst the peaceful Guernsey group of islands. A family living a quiet life, most of the inhabitants never having left the islands and then we have forced evacuation. First their eldest girl taken from them along with many other school children and sent by ship to England. For the family and the child it was devastating. The child recovers swiftly as she is placed in an aristocratic home in Scotland with many comforts - a stark contrast to the simple life in the island. For her parents it was an uneasy time, subsequently having to take decisions to move out themselves when the islands became occupied.


It also descriptively and in detail sets out the life of a bomber on the other side. His daily forays, his ideas, his total commitment to the German cause and the orders he undertakes without question as to the damage and suffering he causes. His diaries reveal in great detail the life he undertook when he joined the German airforce.


This was a poignant, emotional read but not a soppy one. It was pragmatic and down to earth at the same time. Both sides knew that this had to be gone through - at whatever price.

Mystica Varathapalan, Amazon.com - Paperback

I purchased my copy from Tony last Sunday at Guernsey Market and he was kind enough to sign it for me.

I’ve read it whilst still on my cruise; whilst staying at my cousins in Southampton and the final tranche today on my journey home to Manchester. Tony I’ve loved your book!

I knew nothing of this history of Guernsey and found it fascinating and extremely moving. I loved my visit to beautiful Guernsey and am so glad that I bought your book.

It’s all given me a thirst to discover more about the Channel Islands and I will be back!

Joy Shields by email