
The Chilbury Ladies' Choir
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– Unabridged
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Featuring specially-recorded choral music!
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. The women of Chilbury village have taken umbrage at the Vicar's closure of the choir now that its male singers are at war. But when spirited music professor Primrose Trent arrives, it prompts the creation of an all-female singing group. Resurrecting themselves as The Chilbury Ladies' Choir, the women use their song and unity to embolden the community as the war tears through their lives.
Dependable Mrs Tilling sees the choir as a chance to finally put herself first and a welcome distraction from thoughts of her son fighting on the front line. For Kitty Winthrop, the precocious youngest daughter of Chilbury Manor, singing is the only way to outshine her glamorous sister Venetia, who isn't letting the war ruin her plan to make every bachelor in the county fall in love with her. Meanwhile, when midwife Edwina Paltry is presented with a dastardly job which she's convinced will make her rich, she will have to misuse more than the trust of the choir's women to carry out her scheme - and nothing is going to stop her.
Filled with intrigue, humour and touching warmth, and set against the devastating backdrop of the Second World War, this is a lively and big-hearted novel told through the voices of four very different but equally vibrant characters who will win you over as much with their mischief as with their charm.
Choral music sung by Mums N' Roses, with musical direction by Craig Hudson
- Listening Length11 hours and 49 minutes
- Audible release date23 February 2017
- LanguageEnglish
- ASINB01NA0DLAS
- VersionUnabridged
- Program TypeAudiobook
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Product details
Listening Length | 11 hours and 49 minutes |
---|---|
Author | Jennifer Ryan |
Narrator | Gabrielle Glaister, Imogen Wilde, Laura Kirman, Adjoa Andoh, Tom Clegg, Mike Grady |
Audible.com.au Release Date | 23 February 2017 |
Publisher | HarperCollins Publishers Limited |
Program Type | Audiobook |
Version | Unabridged |
Language | English |
ASIN | B01NA0DLAS |
Best Sellers Rank | 38,919 in Audible Books & Originals (See Top 100 in Audible Books & Originals) 305 in Small Town & Rural Fiction (Audible Books & Originals) 475 in Humourous Fiction 863 in Family Life Fiction (Audible Books & Originals) |
Customer reviews
Top reviews from Australia
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Told in a series of letters and journal entries by several of the residents. They share their secrets and fears, and also explain how the Chilbury Ladies' Choir was formed.
I thoroughly enjoyed this.
I nearly gave up on it several times but glad I mananged to get through it as the story was very moving in the end.
Things that drew me to this book were: Firstly, the cover caught my eye. The village tale appealed, and the musical angle too. The character diaries are equally charming and amusing in their turn of phrase and descriptions of the locals.
On top of all this pleasant village setting we soon have intrigue, secrets and lies. I was only 4% into it and I was already imagining it as a TV mini-series, I think it would be great material for that medium.
I loved how this was done: The story is mostly told through the characters’ journals, diaries and letters. Having read Jennifer Ryan’s author bio on Goodreads and that this is her first novel I could hardly believe it as it seems incredibly accomplished right from the early stages.
A cosy village yarn with a bit of scandalous activity. Well-paced with some dramatic scenes in the last stretch. Addictive reading! A wonderful, wonderful book.
I read a pre-publication copy of this book from Netgalley.
Top reviews from other countries

A newcomer to Chilbury village decides to resurrect the choir which was closed down by the vicar as the men left to fight. This becomes a force for good and the choir actually enters and wins a competition.
The different personalities all have their own troubles and as the story develops and the war progresses we see apparently timid women become strong and bad ones forced to confront their weaknesses. The few men left in the village also go through their own trials and transformations.
The author has done her research thoroughly and has used her own family’s experiences and memories to create the story, but I did feel at times that the language used by some characters was a little modern – eg the ‘good guys’ and saying someone was ‘pregnant’ rather than a euphemism such as ‘expecting’ or ‘in the family way’. I am quite sure both my grandmothers and my mother always skirted round direct reference to this subject.
That said, I thoroughly enjoyed the story. It was probably written before Covid took over our lives, but there are several parallels along the way

I was also a bit disappointed that the book didn't really bear much of a resemblance to the blurb, and that some very likeable and interesting characters didn't get much of a look-in. However, I still enjoyed it and thought it made a change from many other books on the market.


Overall this was a charming holiday read with a happy ending.
