The vicar of the Chilbury church has disbanded the choir because the war has taken all the men away from the community. The women of the church have come together to try to overthrow the vicar's decision by forming a Ladies' Choir. There are a number of interesting characters who comprise this choir. Kitty Winthrop, the thirteen-year-old daughter of Brigadier Winthrop, has a clear, perfect-pitch voice and decides to take voice lessons from the director of the choir. Venetia Winthrop is Kitty's sister. Sylvie is the Czech refugee living with the Winthrops. Mrs Tilling is a nurse/midwife and also the billeting officer for the refugees who come to Chilbury, but doesn't want to billet anyone in her own home. Mrs. B wants to be in charge of everything. Edwina Paltry is the other midwife in town and the Brigadier wants her to make sure his wife's baby is a boy.
In amongst all this drama are deals, side deals, and underhanded deals. The story of this choir is told through journals and letters in the voices of the characters themselves.
The Chilbury Ladies' Choir is one tough book to put down. I read it in one day. I understand this is
Jennifer Ryan's first book, and in baseball parlance, she hit it out of the park. Five Stars, Two Thumbs Up, and a winning choir competition number.
My thanks to Blogging for Books for allowing me to read and review this book.
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