The Chilbury Ladies' Choir by Jennifer Ryan

 
From Goodreads

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.

In the idyllic village of Chilbury change is afoot. Hearts are breaking as sons and husbands leave to fight, and when the Vicar decides to close the choir until the men return, all seems lost.

But coming together in song is just what the women of Chilbury need in these dark hours, and they are ready to sing. With a little fighting spirit and the arrival of a new musical resident, the charismatic Miss Primrose Trent, the choir is reborn.

Some see the choir as a chance to forget their troubles, others the chance to shine. Though for one villager, the choir is the perfect cover to destroy Chilbury’s new-found harmony.

Uplifting and profoundly moving, THE CHILBURY LADIES’ CHOIR explores how a village can endure the onslaught of war, how monumental history affects small lives and how survival is as much about friendship as it is about courage.

My thoughts 

This was one of my local Library Reading Group reads.  It's possibly not a book that I would have picked up to read had it not been for the reading group due to having so many books to read.  That doesn't mean to say that I wouldn't have read it though. 

This was a story set towards the beginning of World War II and a group of women all with a common love of singing.  As the original choir is brought to a close by the Vicar, due to the loss of the men not being there due to being conscripted into the forces.  The ladies are at a loss and soon decide to take matters into their own hands, it's not long before a ladies choir is born.  

I enjoyed this story and all the escapades that the ladies in the choir, their friends, relatives and neighbours got into.  It must have been a hard time to be alive, trying to keep out of danger and stay alive while helping others too.