Music helps a village in times of crises.
Jennifer Ryan has created a magical book based on stories her grandmother, Mrs Eileen Beckley, told her about WW2 and through reading the diaries and journals that women were encouraged to keep during that horrible war.
I loved reading the diaries, letters and journals of the women left to cope with life in the village of Chilbury after all the men have left to defend England from the invasion of the Nazis. The reason for starting the "women's only choir" was thanks to Prim, a newcomer to the village. Her energy and love for music inspires young girls (Like Kitty Winthrop) to join and even the bossy Mrs B (who feels that her status gives her the right to decide how to run things) starts realising that life doesn't necessarily revolve around her manor.
Venetia, Kitty's older sister keeps us entertained with her letters to her friend, now living in London, on her various "conquests". But I think my favourite character has to be Mrs Tilling who is a nurse whose son has just left to fight and the terror she wakes up to each morning that she will receive that dreaded black embossed telegram with the worst type of news concerning her son. She's a somewhat timid lady, always doing for others but never realising what her true strengths are. As we follow her journal entries and snippets from other members of the choir, we discover her true personality and strength beginning to surface.
This is a book not to be missed and I'm hoping that word will spread very quickly about its superb way of helping us, some seventy four years later to have a glimpse of this remarkable group of women and how they coped without their menfolk during the tragedies that changed their lives, like bomb raids, rations and having to cope with losing friends killed in air raids but also finding strength and lasting friendships through song.
Jennifer Ryan - I sincerely hope that this book receives the accolades it deserves. One of my most favourite books so far in 2017.
Treebeard
Breakaway Reviewers received a copy of the book to review.

I would like to thank HarperCollins UK for providing me with an advanced reading copy of this book.

"It was as if on the edge of manhood he too remembered everything we had shared, that he was the man who was still, in his heart, my little boy, late for school.
And then he was gone."

The Childbury Ladies' Choir is told in diary entry format, jumping back and forth between the diary entries of the different characters. This format took a bit of getting used to, it didn't lend itself well to getting to know the characters as individuals. The characters were initially just names at the top of a diary post, there was nothing there that allowed me to create a mental image of them as a person. I had to differentiate each by their voice and it took reading a good few entries from each individual character before I managed to match those voices to something a little more substantial than just a name.

Once I was able to separate the characters I was then somewhat able to slowly build a mental image of each from the bits of information scattered across all the different diary entries. However, the pieces were a bit too scattered and I couldn't build as clear a picture of each as I would have liked, and as a result, the characters never felt real. I was outside looking in, reading their stories from a distance rather than experiencing them. They were almost strangers, strangers that I knew by little more than their name, and because of this I never found myself becoming immersed in the storyline or characters enough that I reached that point of forgetting I was reading a story.

Despite the above, I did still enjoy the book and I did learn a few things. It was fascinating to get a peek into village life during the war, but I found it easy to put down. I also found myself thinking of other books or TV programs that I have watched that are set during the war, taking what I had read in this book and placing more memorable characters from other stories into their situation, or comparing them, which made me realise just how distant I felt from the characters in the book.

Like I said, I did enjoy it while reading, it was an OK read but not a great read. I'm hesitant to recommend it because if like me, you like to have a clear picture in your mind and want to immerse yourself in the story rather than watch from a distance, then this isn't the book for you.

This book sort of reads a wee bit like a TV series (home-front setting), with the reader discovering a little bit more about each character each week. It is a comfortable read, despite all the drama.

The trials and tribulations of the choir members become inconsequential when they get together and sing for Britain. Singing for Britain might seem like an exaggeration, however in times of war when the country is fighting to survive it probably feels as if they are.

There are a lot of different character story-lines connected via the occasional sing-song. The choir becomes the busy traffic junction for all the members. It is something consistent during a time of fear, worry and turbulence.

I think the author should have emphasized the choir more and the moments of pure harmony between the singers. Those few minutes of joy and happiness struggle to stay afloat in the sheer volume of sub-plots. It was a little disjointed, perhaps because it needed more focus on one boat in a sea of ships.
*Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for my copy of The Chilbury Ladies' Choir.*

A nice read with characters that develop as the story continues. Mrs Tillings is just too good to be true, nobody could be that capable and wonderful! There is not really any great story about the choir, except that is what they start with. The story is about the people in one village and what happens to them for a while during the second world war. Some of them grow up and some of them don't. A pleasant read.

This is a beautiful story of bravery, sisterhood and working hard to support the war effort. I wasn't sure how good it would be. I love stories about women stepping up and showing what they're capable of, but I wasn't sure how much more to it there would be. Church choirs in a small village? But it really showed a lot more depth to it than it first seemed.

The book covered a lot of angles, from suspicious people who could be German spies, to homosexuality, to women supporting each other in a time of grief and turmoil. It really seemed to capture the essence of what it must have been like to be a women during the Second World War.

The book is told through various different perspectives, each showing the life of a different woman in the choir and what it's like for them, setting up the new choir, coping with the bombs falling on their village and training to fight in case England gets invaded.

This truly is a story about the power of women and what can be achieved.

Such a different way of telling a story, it works because it draws the reader into the lives of these women and the difficult time they lived through.

Set in rural Kent during WWII The Chilbury Ladies' Choir is an absolutely charming premise. Unfortunately I found its execution too simplistic and the style of writing in the series of letters was almost indistinguishable whether the PoV was a 13 year old girl or the nurse Mrs Tilling. The storylines and their outcomes were obvious and the ending was far too contrived. If you are looking for an unchallenging read on a rainy afternoon it would fit the bill. Thanks to Net Galley and Harper Collins for a copy of this book in return for an unbiased review.

4.5 stars

It's 1940 and in Chilbury the war is in full swing and starting to make an impact on their everyday lives. The men of the village have all joined up and the news from Europe is that Hitler is in France, looking to invade Britain next. Left behind to cope with their new reality the woman of Chilbury try to take their minds off their loved ones away fighting as much as possible. However when the vicar closes the village choir due to there being no male members it looks as though this will be difficult. All this changes with the arrival of Primrose (Prim), a music teacher, who promptly starts an all ladies choir despite some opposition. The choir soon becomes central to the women's lives as they struggle with everyday life, the war growing ever closer and tragedy. Working together the women find an amazing support group for themselves that will help them through these dark times and discover just what they are capable of.

This is such a beautiful atmospheric, uplifting and heartwarming book that really takes you to another time and place. I felt like I was really there in Chilbury watching all the action happen and hearing all the gossip first hand. This feeling is further aided by the story being told through diary entries and letters which makes it feel a lot more personal. The characters were all really varied with each having interesting stories of their own. I felt that I went on a journey with them throughout the book and got to know them well so that I cared what happened to them. I felt that my opinion of some of them changed as the story progressed. It was lovely to read about how some of them changed, for the better, as they realised they had to in order to survive the war.

The choir is obviously central to the storyline and reading about how it helps the women develop both individually and in their relationships with each other was lovely to read about. At times this was also quite poignant and had be reaching for the tissues. All the action evolved around the choir which is an unusual angel for a war story and it was great to read about the normal women coping at home.

This book is very addictive and as such I found it quite difficult to put down. I wanted to read more to learn more about the characters lives and what would happen next to them. There is a lot of action and different story lines happening at once which makes for a very interesting read. The inclusion of actual war events is very cleverly done and helps to bring the war close and provide some tension. There are some very brave plot twists which I wasn't expecting and made the story seem more real and the ww2 setting more realistic.

I agree with the publisher that this book would be perfect for anyone who enjoyed The Gurnsey Literary and potato peel our society as it is similar in style. Anyone who likes a good ww2 story will also not be disappointed. This is the debut novel from Jennifer Ryan and I look forward to reading more from her.

Thank you to Borough press and Netgalley for a copy of this book.

This is a sweet novel about wartime Britain told as a succession of letters from various characters. For me, it started off quite slowly but soon had me intrigued. It was very evocative of the period and I loved the strength of these war time ladies, and how they war changed some of their characters.

https://jennyobrienwriter.wordpress.com/2017/02/25/lanzarote-book-by-book/

A gentle (most of the time) reminder of the lives of ordinary women in the war. As a chorister I fully empathised with them.

This book centres on the women who make up the Chilbury Ladies' Choir, what is left of the village choir after the men leave for World War II. The story is told through their journals and letters, so there are a range of narrative threads that are explored by a variety of speakers, including a nurse and a Czechoslovakian evacuee.

The stories themselves are interesting and varied; there are romantic elements and coming of age narratives, births and deaths, and lots about the British 'stiff upper lip' spirit that carried us through this time of great tragedy. I don't want to give the plot away as it has many twists and turns, but a lot of the action is focused on the village midwife and her interactions with with the community, plus how war affects the villagers in many different ways.

At first I was concerned that the structure would mean the stories were disjointed, but this wasn't the case. However, the sections also didn't read like true journals or letters either, with use of direct speech and lack of distinct narrative voices in a lot of cases; this made the book more accessible, but made me think the changing formats weren't entirely necessary just to change the perspective from which the story is told. I also thought the author missed a trick with the character of Prim - she sounded fascinating but was sadly underused!

Overall, this is an engaging and enjoyable read. The period detail is good and the characters are mostly appealing, with the occasional slip into stereotype (particularly among the male characters who were very much in the background, as is to be expected). It all feels like quite familiar territory, but the narrative is well paced and I found that I was carried along by the desire to check that it all works out for the key figures in the end.

In my quest for more gentle reading, I hit upon The Chilbury Ladies' Choir. Set in 1940 when World War 2 was having an impact on everyone, the choir in Chilbury was in danger of grinding to a halt, as nearly all the male members had gone to fight. However, the ladies of the parish decided that there was an even bigger reason to sing to keep spirits up in troubled times and so the Ladies' Choir was born. The story is told from various points of view through letters and diaries. I thought Jennifer Ryan did a good job of giving each writer their own 'voice' from teenage Kitty to the obnoxious Miss Palfrey.

This is not the most demanding of reads but it was an enjoyable one. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me the chance to read it.

What a wonderful read! This beautifully written book engaged me from the start. The characters have distinctive voices and this helps to visualise them easily. The journeys the characters experience are witty, heartfelt and real. I enjoyed how the author structured the book, through diary, journal and letter entries; it provided a deeper insight into each of the characters. The inspirational support that people provide to one another is evident throughout the book. It is carefully crafted too, it could have easily become a feminist story, which I'm pleased did not happen.

A beautiful book written about village life in W.W.2.- episodes of sadness, joy and happiness.. All the characters are well described and it is easy for the reader to identify with them . I thoroughly enjoyed this novel and look forward to the author's future works .

Snapped up in a six figure deal by the Borough Press, The Chilbury Ladies Choir is a zippy little tale of life in a chocolate box English village at the outset of World War II. With the men away fighting, the vicar folds the church choir for the duration of the conflict. However, the women decide that this simply will not do and, in the midst of some opposition, decide that they can keep it going themselves. Told in epistolary format via various letters and journals, a chorus of women provide a diverse range of perspectives and opinions on the outbreak of war.

The ladies of Chilbury are a very high-spirited sort - there's the matronly Mrs Tilling keeping her journal and hoping for her son's safe return, then the Squire's two growing daughters - the vampish Venetia wittering in letters about how to keep this or that man at bay, then her whiny sister Kitty always getting the slight wrong end of the stick, then the Dickensian wicked midwife whose dastardly plans always appear destined to go awry. Strangely for a war story, their concerns are less about the conflict as they are about their personal relationships - these even take precedence over the music. The war is ancillary to these ladies - this is the Phoney War and nobody has quite accepted that this is happening yet, even if the Squire's horrible son has already been killed in it.

This is a nice book to read by a pool or to pick up at the airport - gentle-spirited, despite the highs and lows, one never feels that we are headed anywhere other than a big Happy Ever After. Those who show regret are absolved and those who do not are easily defeated by a stern look or a well-placed word. It struck me how so many of the story-lines, particularly those concerning the Squire's family and the question of finding a male heir after his son's death, seemed better-suited to a Victorian rather than 1940s novel, where a new world seemed to be rising with different priorities. There is a reassurance to Ryan's espousal of such traditional values - this does have the qualities of a real comfort read.

The most interesting character to me was Prim, the choir mistress, and it felt like a shame that her full story did not appear realised. Similarly the orphaned Hatty also intrigued me and her abrupt departure left her story feeling slightly incomplete, but such is the nature of wartime. I could imagine Chilbury Ladies making an enjoying Radio 4 series - it did make me consider the role that choral singing has often had in healing communities, particularly in Aberfan where the local male choir seemed to give grieving people a way of expressing themselves which they had not had before. Certainly, these anxious mothers, sisters and daughters had much to fret over while keeping the home fires burning and community activities such as these did tend to thrive.

Chilbury Ladies is a fluffy read which avoids much of the darker shades of the conflict - far from the Blitz and grime of London, this is a novel for those nostalgic for 1940s vintage aesthetic, rag time beats and black and white films. Ryan has a real knack for capturing the voices of her characters, each of whom is entirely distinct from the other. The story moves at a fair gallop, with each of the players managing to throw spanners into the works at different points so that the plot is tricky to predict. As light as a fairy cake, The Chilbury Ladies' Choir sings quite the sweet song.

Lovely read which perfectly captures the time. War is on everyone's mind, but there is more going on than just pulling together towards the war effort. Plenty of intrigue and goings on and the pages just turned themselves. The only thing I did not think was realistic was the letter writing, it told the story but often it did not have the tone and content of a letter. Would love to revisit Chilbury.

1940 and the small village of Chilbury in Kent is feeling the effects of the war. One local man has already been killed and many residents are working at the military base at Litchfield. At the Manor the Brigadier is desperate that his wife gives birth to a son and heir after his only son's death, he enlisted local midwife Mrs Paltry to ensure that this happens. His eldest daughter Venetia has fallen for an artist with secrets and his youngest is pining for a man in love with her sister. Czech refugee Silvie knows nothing of the fate of her family and nurse Mrs Tilling is suspicious of Mrs Paltry but has her own issues to deal with, notably the billeting of an army officer in her son's bedroom. Amongst all of this the church choir tries to continue with only female members.

Ostensibly this book is based on the memoirs of the author's grandmother and other women on the home front which makes the sometimes silly plot twists actually feel more realistic. At it's core this is a heart-warming book about survival and community. Yes, it is frothy in the main and is a simple, non-challenging read but it is also very readable. I do think there are way too many plot lines crammed into a short novel but I do like Ryan effervescent writing style and I think this book will develop a wide readership.

Oh wow...I was not sure what to expect of this book, However just keep reading, as you get to know the characters and their little quirks it's like watching an episode of Coronation Street or EastEnders, just because you expect them to be a little bit straight-laced, doesn't mean to say they are. I LOVED IT. Just the right amount of sex, drugs and rock n roll 1940's style to make this a fantastic novel.

This book is set in a village in Kent in 1940. It is set out as a series of diary entries and letters from several of the characters within the book.

From the title I perhaps thought there was going to be more made of the actual ladies choir. However this does not detract from the book as the storylines are really interesting.