Music MAKERS
NICKY SINGS THE PRAISES OF JENNIFER RYAN’S DEBUT NOVEL SET DURING WORLD WAR II
Iwas having a slightly fraught week when I picked up this book and it was exactly what I needed – a novel to escape into, warm-hearted, funny and dramatic.
The Chilbury Ladies’ Choir is set in an English village at the outbreak of World War II. Since all the local men have been sent away to fight, the vicar declares that he is closing down the local choir. But the women need music more than ever, just as they need the help and support of each other as they face the changes war is bringing, so they decide to set up a new ladies’ choir.
This forms the backdrop to the story but there is a whole lot more going on in Chilbury than just singing. An unscrupulous midwife is caught in a baby-swapping plot. Young women are falling in love with unsuitable men. Older people are discovering sides of themselves they didn’t know existed. There are top-secret schemes afoot and the constant threat of falling bombs.
The tale is told in epistolary style through letters and journal entries. This gives it a certain intimacy and you feel as if you’re a part of the village and its gossip. You really know brave Mrs Tilling who has sent her only son to war, spirited 13-year-old Kitty Winthrop and her beautiful sister Venetia, and even the immoral Mrs Paltry.
There is a mischievous quality to the writing and a real sense of fun, but underlying it is a more serious theme. This was an era when women’s lives were altered. Their role had been mostly domestic, but war meant they had to take on new challenges outside the home. The female characters of Chilbury reflect this and each one finds they are transformed in some way by what is taking place in the outside world.
There were times when I felt the mix of humour and heartbreak didn’t quite work. And the characters seem to be extremely nasty or very nice, with not much shading in between. It’s more of a cosy, endearing read than a gritty wartime story, but I enjoyed taking a break from real life to escape into its pages.