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A review by constantreader471
The Chilbury Ladies' Choir by Jennifer Ryan
5.0
This was a lovely story about so much more than the ladies' Choir in Chilbury, England. It is set in 1940, from spring to fall. The lives of the women of this choir are told through letters and diaries.
It is a village in the southeast of England dealing with war--bombs, rationing, men gone off to war, etc.
There are stories of unrequited love, schoolgirl crushes, unwanted pregnancies and more. The characters are believable--
a scheming midwife willing to arrange abortions
a precocious 12 year old girl with fantasies of true love
a widow still grieving over her husband, dead for several years
a flirtatious teen about to become a woman
the local lord of the manor, a nasty bully
and the new music teacher, choirmaster
All interact so well that I read this book in 3 days, reading the last 200 pages in one day.
Some quotes:
Funeral service "At the front, the Winthrops and their aristocrat friends were sitting all plumed and groomed like a row of black swans."
Kitty, precocious 12 years old girl's diary "I like to see people as colors, a kind of aura or halo surrounding them, shading their outsides with the various flavors of their insides."
On starting a ladies only choir because all the men are gone "What will God think? one of the Sewing ladies piped up. He couldn't have intended women to sing on their own."
I rate it 4.5 out of 5 stars(rounded up to 5).
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for sending this book.
It is a village in the southeast of England dealing with war--bombs, rationing, men gone off to war, etc.
There are stories of unrequited love, schoolgirl crushes, unwanted pregnancies and more. The characters are believable--
a scheming midwife willing to arrange abortions
a precocious 12 year old girl with fantasies of true love
a widow still grieving over her husband, dead for several years
a flirtatious teen about to become a woman
the local lord of the manor, a nasty bully
and the new music teacher, choirmaster
All interact so well that I read this book in 3 days, reading the last 200 pages in one day.
Some quotes:
Funeral service "At the front, the Winthrops and their aristocrat friends were sitting all plumed and groomed like a row of black swans."
Kitty, precocious 12 years old girl's diary "I like to see people as colors, a kind of aura or halo surrounding them, shading their outsides with the various flavors of their insides."
On starting a ladies only choir because all the men are gone "What will God think? one of the Sewing ladies piped up. He couldn't have intended women to sing on their own."
I rate it 4.5 out of 5 stars(rounded up to 5).
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for sending this book.