The Chilbury Ladies' Choir by Jennifer Ryan

A friend gave me this book to read, and I'm glad she did.

The Chilbury Ladies' Choir by Jennifer Ryan is a fun, quick read. It's reminiscent of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. 

The book is set in Britain during World War II and the Chilbury Choir has lost its men to the war. In an astonishing feat of pluck, they rebrand themselves The Chilbury Ladies Choir and go on to compete with other local choirs. 

Of course the book involves a variety of characters, each bringing her (usually) own spice to the mix. A love interest is unavoidable and obviously messy. 

All ends well with lessons learned. 

The most interesting part of the book is its epistolary style. Going back and forth as characters either write to those outside the story or in their own diaries, makes for an interesting read. The story is told from multiple points of view, causing it to unfold in way significantly differently than it would have from the point of view of an omniscient narrator. 

The story includes the characters we love, the ones we love to hate, and the ones we hate to love. 

Definitely worth a look.