The Chilbury Ladies' Choir

By: Jennifer Ryan, Mike Grady

Narrated by: Gabrielle Glaister, Imogen Wilde, Laura Kirman, Adjoa Andoh, Tom Clegg

Length: 11 hrs and 49 mins

Publisher's summary

‘The writing glows with emotional intelligence. This atmospheric debut…had me sniffing copiously’ Daily Mail

IN WARTIME, SURVIVAL IS AS MUCH ABOUT FRIENDSHIP AS IT IS ABOUT COURAGE…

Kent, 1940. In the idyllic village of Chilbury change is afoot. Hearts are breaking as sons and husbands leave to fight, and when the Vicar decides to close the choir until the men return, all seems lost.

But coming together in song is just what the women of Chilbury need in these dark hours, and they are ready to sing. With a little fighting spirit and the arrival of a new musical resident, the charismatic Miss Primrose Trent, the choir is reborn.

Some see the choir as a chance to forget their troubles, others the chance to shine. Though for one villager, the choir is the perfect cover to destroy Chilbury’s new-found harmony…

An uplifting and heart-warming novel perfect for fans of Helen Simonson’s The Summer before the War and The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society.

©2017 Jennifer Ryan (P)2017 HarperCollins Publishers

Critic reviews

‘The writing glows with emotional intelligence. This atmospheric debut, based on the author’s own family history, had me sniffing copiously’ Daily Mail

‘I am completely and utterly in love with this book. What a joy! It may be in my all-time top five – I just adore every single thing about it’ JILL MANSELL

‘Lyrical, poetic, emotional, funny, endearing, surprising – it is a masterpiece’ VERONICA HENRY author of How to Find Love in a Book Shop

‘I adored it, it made me want to sing with joy’ ALEX BROWN, author of The Secret of Orchard Cottage

‘Delightful… it manages to be sad and funny, exciting and heart-warming, all at the same time. Quite an achievement’
BARBARA ERSKINE author of Sleeper’s Castle

‘I adored The Chilbury Ladies' Choir! The pages sing with such wonderful characters, and through them wartime England really comes alive. Warm, witty, touching and uplifting, I will be recommending this to all my friends’ HAZEL GAYNOR author of The Girl from the Savoy

simply wonderful

I loved this book. These women were making the best life they could while the horrors of war surrounded them. A story of personal growth, heartbreak and friendship.

Enthralling from Beginning to End

I was totally in love with this audiobook book. It is a debut novel by Jennifer Ryan - I can only say it was enthralling. Set in southern England in a small village in 1940, it examines the life of the people as they start to face the reality of most of the men gone to war.

Up until now there has been a choir, but now with the men gone the vicar has cancelled the choir. But... soon the women are rallying around Prim the choir mistress and they are setting up their own group.

The story is told by four or five characters through letters and journals. However it is seamless and actually doesn't feel like letters and diaries. Rather the story told from different points of view. That's where the narrators come in, they do an amazing and outstanding work of bringing this book to life. By itself its a great story, with the narration absolutely brilliant. I see on Jennifer Ryan's website that the book has had the TV rights optioned by the makers of the makers of Downton Abbey. I sure have my fingers crossed that this will go ahead.

The characters are really interesting, they feel like real people, some of them are rogues and worse, one of them rather precocious but delightful, others kind and compassionate and already the war is changing many of them. The women are strong and resilient and were mostly a joy to follow, even the rogue amongst them.