BOOK INFORMATION:
Publishing Date: February 14th, 2017
Publisher: Crown Publishing Group
Page Count: 371 pages
The village of Chilbury in Kent is about to ring in some changes.
This is a delightful novel of wartime gumption and village spirit that will make your heart sing out.
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 opportunity to shine. Though for one villager, the choir is the perfect cover to destroy Chilbury’s new-found harmony.
Uplifting and profoundly moving, THE CHILBURY LADIES’ CHOIR explores how a village can endure the onslaught of war, how monumental history affects small lives and how survival is as much about friendship as it is about courage.
MY THOUGHTS ON THE BOOK:
The Chilbury Ladies’ Choir was a hugely enjoyable novel. It is told in many different mediums such as letters and journals. It was a great British story set in Kent. It stars a community of chatty women that are contributing to the war effort, trying to stop the Nazi’s from taking everything they know and love. They are trying to survive and figure out how to live life, while the world that they know is crumbling and falling apart. One way they try to cope with the pain and grief is to start the Chilbury Ladies’ Choir. Even though not everyone in the community is excited or believes it is a good thing. In this town its a scandal to have a choir without a man. The choir becomes an essential way of keeping their spirits up and provide support for each other. The women in this story are required to step up and do what the men in their community have done, while the men are at war. It really is an interesting story premise.
This story is filled to the brim with warmth, humor, and wit. The characters are such a treasure and have such lively personalities. The author creates some characters with a wide range of personalities. I love that the author made some of these women super petty because it's such a real life thing. These women prove that life goes on despite war by falling in love, experiencing tragedies, having children, and so on.
One of the most interesting characters is Mrs. Tilling, who is a midwife, that finds herself getting into the emotionally intense situation. She gets her self into so much trouble. She is sort of the “evil” woman in the story because she dislikes the choir, commits “crimes,” and talks a lot of crap. She is endearing though, and she definitely grew on me. She thrives in this story so much, and in the end, I loved her character. There is also the flirty Venetia who is a light character that is boy crazy and always getting her self into trouble with boys. Her personal circumstances become dire, she will need her friends to get through it. These were my favorite characters, but there is so much.
We get a glimpse of the class system, through this book. I really enjoyed listening to the different struggles they had. I also liked seeing who the class system got impacted by the war and who various people lost power.
I became entirely and utterly engaged with this story and the characters. I could barely put this book down to do the various things I needed to do. I particularly loved how positive and light-hearted this book could be even with such a hard subject such as war. I loved how much this book celebrated women and was so women positive. It was such a great historical novel. I highly recommended.
