Book
The Chilbury Ladies' Choir : a novel
Record details
- ISBN: 9781101906750
-
Physical Description:
371 pages ; 25 cm
regular print
print - Publisher: New York : Crown, 2017.
- Copyright: ©2017.
Content descriptions
| General Note: | Map on endpapers. |
| Bibliography, etc. Note: | Includes bibliographical references. |
Search for related items by subject
| Genre: | Historical fiction. Diary fiction. Epistolary fiction. |
Available copies
- 22 of 24 copies available at BC Interlibrary Connect. (Show)
- 1 of 1 copy available at Creston Public Library.
Holds
- 0 current holds with 24 total copies.
Other Formats and Editions
Show Only Available Copies
| Location | Call Number / Copy Notes | Barcode | Shelving Location | Holdable? | Status | Due Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Creston Public Library | FIC RYA (Text)
Acquisition Type: New |
35140100017592 | Fiction | Volume hold | Available | - |
- Booklist Reviews : Booklist Reviews 2017 January #1
Among the many changes that WWII brings to the little English village of Chilbury is the demise of the church choir, since all of the men are away. The women are still at home, though, and form the Chilbury Ladies' Choir. Ryan structures her novel in the form of letters and diary entries written by several members of the choir: nice, widowed Mrs. Tilling; waspish and scheming midwife Edwina Paltry; posh Venetia Winthrop, who becomes entangled with an artist who may or may not be a spy; and Venetia's 13-year-old sister, Kitty, who is trying to navigate her way through adolescence and first love. Working with multiple perspectives can be tricky, but Ryan generally does a convincing job of differentiating the women's voices as they offer their perspectives on various characters and plot threads that include black marketeering, espionage, baby swapping, sexual orientation, unplanned pregnancy, air raids, a Jewish refugee, romance, and moreâwith so much going on that the choir story line gets lost. Still, readers who like home-front and small-English-village settings will enjoy this. Definitely hand it to fans of the PBS series Home Fires. Copyright 2017 Booklist Reviews. - BookPage Reviews : BookPage Reviews 2017 March
The women left behindDespite its pastoral title, Jennifer Ryan's compelling and exquisitely wrought World War II-era novel is far removed from the stereotypical cozy British village story. Rooted in the bucolic countryside of Kent, the novel is told in a series of letters and journal entries penned by an eclectic cast of characters, all of whom are members of their village's first ladies' choirâa musical distinction born of necessity rather than choice.
Indeed, with the village's sons, brothers, husbands and lovers heading off to join the war effort, Chilbury is virtually absent of men. For the women they have left behind, the emotional burdens to be borne include the lonely widow Mrs. Tilling's fears for the safety of her only son; village beauty Venetia Winthrop's illicit romance with an enigmatic artist; intrepid musical prodigy Kitty's ill-fated attempts to gain attention; and the haunted Jewish refugee Silvie's harboring of a family secret.
While the poignant narratives that unfold in each letter and journal entry are imbued with the struggles of a town reeling from the ravages of yet another war, the bleakness is tempered by romance, mystery and even crimeâin particular, a daring act of deception performed by Miss Edwina Paltry, a conniving member of the Winthrops' household staff.Â
Readers will be delighted to hear that the television rights to this splendid novel have already been optioned by Carnival TVâthe production company behind "Downton Abbey." With The Chilbury Ladies' Choir, Ryan has crafted a riveting debut novel that is certain to resonate with readers on both sides of the pond.
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This article was originally published in the March 2017 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.
Copyright 2017 BookPage Reviews. - Kirkus Reviews : Kirkus Reviews 2016 December #1
While their men are off fighting the Nazis, the women in the English village of Chilbury struggle to carry on.Though the action spans only a few months in 1940, a lot happens: there are bombings, a nefarious baby-swapping scheme, passionate love affairs, acts of espionage and of great valor. The Chilbury women, it seems, are always being tested. What binds them together and lifts their spirits is their participation in the local church choir, transformed with the advent of war from a coed chorus to an all-female one. The story is told through the women's letters and journal entries, which can make for some clumsy exposition. Key figures include the sensible widow and nurse Mrs. Tilling, the scheming midwife Miss Paltry, Kitty Winthrop, a plucky, headstrong 13-year-old, and her older sister, Venetia, the town beauty and a heedless flirt until she falls hard for a secretive artist. All are borderline stock characters, and little that happens in the book is unexpectedâthou gh the brutality of Brig. Winthrop, Kitty and Venetia's father, does come as a bit of a shock. The author also tends to tell rather than show: asked if she thinks that singing will help the women get through the war, the choir director answers, "Music takes us out of ourselves, away from our worries and tragediesâ¦.All those cadences and beautiful chord changes, every one of them makes you feel a different splendor of life." Real tragedy visits the town, but it doesn't fully register. And subplots involving homosexuality and abortion seem designed to make a period piece feel more contemporary. Still, the book is well-paced, especially in the second half, and readers may find themselves furiously turning pages even if they can easily predict what's coming next. Mildly entertaining, Ryan's debut novel seems overfamiliar and too intent on warming the heart. Copyright Kirkus 2016 Kirkus/BPI Communications. All rights reserved. - Library Journal Reviews : LJ Reviews 2016 October #1
This highly touted debut tells the story of an all-female choir in a Kentish village during World War II whose members resist the vicar's efforts to shut them down when the choir's male participants go off to war. Events are related through the letters and journals of five members, while the story was inspired by Ryan's grandmother. Rights sold to 12 countries and TV rights sold to the production company behind Downton Abbey.. Copyright 2016 Library Journal. - Library Journal Reviews : LJ Reviews 2016 October #2
It's 1940, and the European continent is being overrun by Hitler's troops. In Chilbury, Kent, England, the women are doing their best to maintain morale and that includes keeping the choir going despite the lack of male voices. Mrs. Tilling is a nurse whose son is about to leave for France. She is keeping a journal, as does young Kitty Winthrop, just 13, but her entries relay a good deal of what's happening. In fact, the entire novel is composed of journal and diary entries, notices, documents, and correspondence. An unscrupulous midwife enters into a nefarious plot with Brigadier Winthrop. Kitty's older sister, Venetia, is playing a dangerous game by seducing the artist Mr. Slater. Within six months, the village undergoes many changes as war edges closer to home. Unfortunately, debut author Ryan miscalculates the credibility of her novel's structure and her narrators. Would the vile Miss Paltry reveal her illegal dealings in letters to her sister? Would Venetia be injured by an errant bomb and still find the wherewithal to pick up pen and paper? VERDICT The stalwart ladies of the choir deserve better. Not a necessary purchase. [See Prepub Alert, 8/26/16.]âBette-Lee Fox, Library Journal. Copyright 2016 Library Journal. - Publishers Weekly Reviews : PW Reviews 2016 December #1
In 1940, at a time when women's roles were still firmly rooted in home and hearth, the ladies of Chilbury, England, find themselves at the bleeding edge of progress as the ramifications of World War II begin to infiltrate their little town. The men of Chilbury head to battlefields, and the village choir becomes the first casualty of the war. When a female professor of music insists the choir can be reassembled as a ladies' choir, the small community is at first scandalized by such an idea. But this is soon lost to other more salacious events. There is the brigadier who hires an unscrupulous midwife to swap his baby girl for a boy, and his teenage daughter seduces a handsome artist who's come to town under mysterious circumstances. An upstanding single woman (a widow whose only son has gone to fight) is tapped to take a colonel into her home, and a 10-year-old Czech evacuee finds out what happened to her family. As the war advances on Chilbury, even more lives are changed when a German bomb kills a young mother as well as the choir mistress, young men are sent off to war, and spies and black market profiteers lurk in the quiet lanes. Told in the form of diaries and letters in the voices of the female characters, Ryan's novel, reminiscent of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, captures the experience of the war from a woman's perspective. Readers may have come across this kind of story before, but the letter/diary format works well and the plot elements satisfyingly come together. (Feb.) Copyright 2016 Publisher Weekly.
