A review by gwalt118
The Chilbury Ladies' Choir by Jennifer Ryan

5.0

A delightful novel told through journal entries and letters, this book tells the story of a group of women who are left behind in a small town in England after the men go to war. Under the leadership of a dynamic choir director, Prim, the women band together to start their own choir. Through the choir practices and performances, the women find their voices in more ways than one. They become stronger both individually and as a group. Their community becomes even more close-knit than it was before the choir began. We see inside the minds of widows, lovers, soldiers, a young evacuee from Czechoslovakia, a 13-year-old girl, midwives, young mothers, older mothers, and single women. Over the course of the 360-ish pages, I fell in love with some of the characters. I sincerely hope Jennifer Ryan writes a sequel (which she has hinted at doing on Goodreads). I am impressed with her ability to address such a dark and tumultuous war in a way that is fun to read. I found myself reading this book for hours at a time. I am quite astounded this is her debut novel, and I look forward to reading what she writes next.