This was a perfect movie! And a new favourite. It has now firmly logged on my Top Movies list. Lily James was my draw to this (I'd put it on my Coming Soon list as soon as I heard of it, so, today when it was released on Netflix, I sat down with great expectation, which were immediately surpassed by the appearance of a treasure trove of favoured actors - Jessica Brown Finley, Penelope Wilton, Michiel Huisman, Tom Courtney, Katherine Parkinson - all in the first scene! And the film just continued to exceed my hopes, right up to the readings during the final credits. Perfection! The story was wonderfully crafted - history, literature, romance, great characters and mystery - all together. The cinematography was stunning - wide skies and water filled horizons (it was filmed on the coast of England rather than Guernsey because the demands of the big transports, needed for filming, would have overtaxed the island's roadways, but the scenery was breathtaking nonetheless). I give this film a 10 (perfection) out of 10, and encourage all my friends who love the above things (history, literature...), as much as I do, to see it as soon as possible. I will be rewatching it a number of times in the coming years. [Historical Romantic Drama]

High quality period piece although the book is supposed to be even better. I haven't read the book so maybe you will want to do that first. Back to the movie. The cast is superb and the story is compelling. What more do you need? The story has great characters, and the the cast brings out all their emotional interests. The story unfolds in a series of flashbacks as several characters are unwilling to share what happened during the German occupation with intrepid writer Juliet. This works well to build suspense around the overall mystery. Juliet is dealing with her own tragic war memories which drive her character's choices. Guernsey is like a character too and will probably be swamped with tourists in the near future.
As far as the present, we can all have a very pleasant journey there by just watching this great movie.