Empress Elizabeth
In a letter to Sidney, Juliet shares a metaphorical title conferred up the founder of the Guernsey Society and later concentration camp victim by her friend, Remy:
“Elizabeth must have been like that once…the Empress of the seas.”
Treason by Fashion
Susan suggests to Juliet that she needs to buy a new dress to which Juliet—ever the good monarch-loving Brit—responds that Queen Elizabeth was good with appearing in public in an old dress. Susan reminds her that the Queen doesn’t have to impress anyone with her sense of fashion; a luxury Juliet does not possess. Even after giving in, however, Juliet can’t quite shake the propaganda equating royalty with country:
“I felt like a traitor to my country: no decent woman has new clothes - but I forgot that the moment I saw myself in the mirror.”
Or Maybe Not
On the other hand, Lady Bella Taunton finds Juliet to actually be something of a traitor. She cancels her subscription to the Spectator after reading a column which she believes to reveal Juliet as lacking taste, judgment and knowing when humor isn’t appropriate. And all just because Juliet wrote:
“Juliet applauded the Ministry of Food for having ordered peas to be planted in the grounds surrounding that memorial - commenting that no better scarecrow than Prince Albert existed in all England.”
Tense Sidney
A letter from Juliet to Sophie is a revelation of the way that she truly feels about Sidney:
“…remember what a vile patient Sidney was last time? We should be glad he's thousands of miles away…Sidney has been stretched as tight as a bow-string for years.”
Remy the Wise
Remy, concentration camp survivor, decides to speak up at a meeting of the society for the first time ever to weigh in on the topic of discussion which has dominated the last two hours: predestination. Her take, as a survivor of the Ravensbrück concentration camp survivor, is met with hushed respect:
“'If there is Predestination, then God is the devil.' No one could argue with that - what kind of God would create Ravensbrück?”
