![]() The Chilbury Ladies' Choir comes to us through journal entries, letters, posters, and newspaper articles. ![]() The Chilbury Ladies' Choir by Jennifer Ryan (Author), Gabrielle Glaister (Narrator), Laura Kirman (Narrator), Imogen Wilde (Narrator), Adjoa Andoh (Narrator), Tom Clegg (Narrator), Mike Grady (Narrator) I think anyone who reads this will enjoy it. This novel celebrates all that women did during the war and the role that music and the choir provide in inspiring, a route to express grief and providing succour. It is through the prism of loss that the women come to understand this and therefore learn to challenge traditional norms. In a sense, this is true to varying degrees for all the women. I particularly loved Mrs Tilling and Prim, women who come to realise they have nothing to lose and can be exactly who they are and so becoming role models for others. I became totally engaged with the characters and the pressures they are living under. All the action takes place where there is a real and tangible fear that Britain might come under Nazi rule. Edwina struggles to keep her unsavoury secrets and keep her ill gotten gains. We see what is happening in Europe through Sylvie, a young Jewish evacuee. We get a glimpse of the class system where characters like the Brigadier and the Viscount find their established power being undermined. The emotional intensity of the young can be seen through the eyes of the young, such as thirteen year old Kitty. New relationships are cemented through billeting as with Colonel Mallard. The lightweight and flirty Venetia comes to be a revelation as her personal circumstances become dire. Mrs Tilling is a midwife, who finds herself digging deep into her emotional reserves to support others, expands her world view as she comes to see the humanity in others even when their actions may not appear to deserve it. With warmth, wit and humour, the author gives us a wide range of characters with all the petty resentments, falling in love, tragedies and intrigue that beset any community. The choir becomes important in providing a channel to keep their spirits up, channel emotional distress, provide support and personal development. ![]() Women are having to step in and do what men have done, they have no choice. who thinks its a scandal to have a choir without men. Helping them to cope with the grief and loss is the Chilbury Ladies Choir set up by incomer Primrose, despite the opposition of Mrs B. It is a quintessentially British story set in Kent about a community of women contributing to the war effort, trying to survive and live life whilst the world as they know it is crumbling around them. This is a hugely enjoyable novel delivered through the medium of letters and journals. 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. Though for one villager, the choir is the perfect cover to destroy Chilbury’s new-found harmony. Some see the choir as a chance to forget their troubles, others the chance to shine. With a little fighting spirit and the arrival of a new musical resident, the charismatic Miss Primrose Trent, the choir is reborn. 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.īut coming together in song is just what the women of Chilbury need in these dark hours, and they are ready to sing. In the idyllic village of Chilbury change is afoot. This is a delightful novel of wartime gumption and village spirit that will make your heart sing out. ![]() The village of Chilbury in Kent is about to ring in some changes. ![]()
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