The Chilbury Ladies Choir: A Novel by Jennifer Ryan

The Chilbury Ladies Choir: A Novel Reviews

• 
  D. Smith

  I needed charming and charming is what I got with The Chilbury Ladies' Choir. It turned out to be a page turner and exactly what I was looking for. Ah, the characters come to life on the pages and the story takes off from page one with intricacies added like enhancements on a fine painting.
  
  I heartily recommend this book. It's excellent.
• 
  Rebecca

  I really liked this book. It is one of those quirky books that rarely is published and when it does delights so many of us. For ecample A MAN CALLED OVE and MAJOR PETTIGREW'S LAST STAND. The Chilbury's Ladies Choir is a treasure! The story takes place in Britain in 1940. Most of the men in town have left or are leaving to fight the Germans in WWII. The cast of characters includes a young teenage girl, a pompous choir member, a widow who has yet to discover her own voice, a enthusiastic young school teacher and a new choir leader who inspires them all. In addition there are various men, both young and old, who provide the ladies (and the reader) a lot of gossip and entertainment. This book satisfied my love of history and my love for just simply charming reads. I hope this author writes another book soon.
• 
  julie

  This author definitely has talent. The story was set in a small village in England during WW 2. It has a random set of characters that play roles in the story. I suppose some people would classify this as a romance. I don't like romance books. This one does have some romantic interests in it but isn't the sort of story with the sweaty greasy bodice ripper sort of crap. It reminded me so much of the Downton Abbey sort of story. You have rich people , poor people , good guys and bad. In a way parts of it were predictable but it was still an extremely high quality and well written story.
  I'm keeping fingers crossed that there is a follow up book. The way the story ended, it seemed to me that it'd be pretty easy to start where this one ended. It leaves you wondering what happened to some of the characters so I'm hoping we will get to find out in the next book.
  For those who are like me and don't like romance but did like Downton, you may want to give this a shot.
  *** I listened to the audio version of this , which was outstanding. It was multi voiced and everyone did a wonderful job.
• 
  Cynthia L. Chase

  A great read! I felt like I was there. Several interesting female characters who grow and change when the men go off to war. Highly recommended for anyone who enjoys historical fiction. I hated to leave Chilbury!
• 
  Elizabeth A. Crean

  This story is told in letters and journal entries. I didn't like it as much as The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society it was still a well told story of everyday people in Britain n the early part of the war. The women of the Chilbury Choir each finds their new voice in a world they no longer recognize. It starts a bit slowly but I recommend it
• 
  Tlmpa

  This delightful novel captures the imagination immediately, pulling the reader into the story as surely as if they were one of the well drawn characters. It's a rare, impossible to put down slice of life that captures the fears and occasional horrors of the home front during WWII. At the same time, it illustrates how hope and courage grew in the hearts of the women young and old, who did far , physically and psychologically, than merely keeping the home fires burning. A real gem of a book that easily deserves a sequel, or two or three.
• 
  Ginny L.

  An unusual and rewarding presentation of the lives of a small town group of women as they deal with the trials of dealing with war on the home front. Though presented through letters and diary notations, this skillfully crafted book presents fully developed characters who triumph from inconveniences as challenging as forcing their town to accept a choir that has no men to surviving danger, food shortages, and supporting one another during a particularly challenging chapter of their lives. I will always remember these women and this book. Though it is presented in a British town, this could be small town women all over Europe as they dealt with surviving.
• 
  CWright

  First off, it's a feel good story, and feel good stories are always nice to read, but my honest opinion of the story is that it's hollow.
  The central theme of the story was the banding together of a community of women for support and survival during the horrors of early WWII, and it postulated that their strength ensured they'd thrive. Great theme. Great fictionalization of a circumstance that is often forgotten or overlooked about wartime. But there were moments of modern feminist thought attributed to the women that took me out of the story.
  I like and appreciate that Jennifer Ryan took a chance with the format by having the characters tell their story through journal entries and letters, although this format choice wasn't executed as well as it could have been. In part I was troubled by the thorough recreation of dialogue thwarted, astounding, tearful and abysmal, among others?) that seemed incongruous for the character, and by the many plot and character holes. For instance, why didn't David ever write his mother, or vice versa? Or why wasn't a trained military officer who wasn't ancient, wounded or infirm, i.e. the Brigadier, recalled to duty even in an administrative capacity, or why exactly he changed his ways so completely? The same can be asked of his wife's new assertiveness. Or what was Edwina's major malfunction, especially with regards to a debt owed her sister?
  
  As I stated above, it's a feel good story. I'm glad I read it.
• 
  Kathleen Spindler

  As a member of a ladies choir myself I was drawn to the title of this book. I was completely captivated by the story, and the devastating effect the war had on the characters. It was very well written and there were unexpected twists to the story. Makes the reader think what horrors people went through during those times. But the choir came through it all and I can only agree what singing in a choir does for ones well being. Singing lovely songs and making friends as well, and finding books like 'The Chilbury Ladies Choir' Highly recommended.
• 
  Jilly J

  There were definitely some enjoyable aspects to this book and the story romped along, but I was not keen on the diary/ journal/ letter format in which everyone seemed to over explain and elaborate until the cows came home! The problem with writing letters or diaries is that the characterisation has to ring true which, when the characters speak and describe detail in such a flowery way, just doesn't work. Letters include huge swathes of dialogue (surely in a letter or diary, you would just summarise a conversation, rather than writing the dialogue line for line, including descriptive detail 'he said, evenly, his fingers toying with his moustache as if it were a battlefield conundrum.') and detailed description of the 'use adjectives and adverbs whenever possible' variety. Had it been written as straightforward narrative, I think I would have enjoyed it much .
  I was also a bit disappointed that the book didn't really bear much of a resemblance to the blurb, and that some very likeable and interesting characters didn't get much of a look in. However, I still enjoyed it and thought it made a change from many other books on the market.
• 
  CarolB

  This felt almost like a children's book with its cast of somewhat two dimensional characters in an idyllic village. For some time I was confused about Litchfield thinking it was really life Lichfield and I didn't understand why the children aren't at school. I also found the diary/letter format a bit irritating as there was so much repetition of the story. I wanted to hear what Mrs Paltry's sister and Venetia 's friend had to say in response. The writing was lovely but I couldn't quite believe 13 year old Kitty writing like that.
  Overall this was a charming holiday read with a happy ending.
• 
  Athena53

  This book is set in the summer of 1940 as the ‘phoney war’ gives way to the Battle of Britain and husbands, sons and lovers are sent away, some never to return. The unique thing about this story is that it is told through a series of diary entries and letters sent by some of the characters.
  A newcomer to Chilbury village decides to resurrect the choir which was closed down by the vicar as the men left to fight. This becomes a force for good and the choir actually enters and wins a competition.
  The different personalities all have their own troubles and as the story develops and the war progresses we see apparently timid women become strong and bad ones forced to confront their weaknesses. The few men left in the village also go through their own trials and transformations.
  The author has done her research thoroughly and has used her own family’s experiences and memories to create the story, but I did feel at times that the language used by some characters was a little modern – eg the ‘good guys’ and saying someone was ‘pregnant’ rather than a euphemism such as ‘expecting’ or ‘in the family way’. I am quite sure both my grandmothers and my mother always skirted round direct reference to this subject.
  That said, I thoroughly enjoyed the story. It was probably written before Covid took over our lives, but there are several parallels along the way
• 
  Ginette

  I enjoyed the format of the book diary entries and letters but it was initially difficult to work out who was who.. The book has many stories going on, all in the same village. Some of these I enjoyed and others I found silly. I loved it that the author clearly understands the power of music to move people emotionally, to bring people together, to distract from the stresses of life and make people feel better. That was a very good side of the book.
  I never want to read a book again, but this one I felt would be worthwhile doing. Knowing the characters at the end, I would get from it.