The Chilbury Ladies' Choir

Jennifer Ryan’s novel is set on the British home front during the early years of World War II, a period of profound social upheaval. After Britain’s declaration of war in September 1939, nearly 1.5 million men were conscripted into the armed forces, leaving a massive labor vacuum (“Defeat in the West, 1940.” National Army Museum). The novel opens in March 1940 during the “Phony War,” an initial period of relative quiet that gave way to escalating crisis with the Dunkirk evacuation amid the Nazi conquest of France and the ensuing Battle of Britain, in which Britain’s Royal Air Force successfully repelled the German Luftwaffe.

This historical backdrop is the direct catalyst for the novel’s social drama. As the men of Chilbury depart, the vicar declares that the choir must close because “all [the] male voices have gone to war” (1), reflecting the patriarchal assumption that women could not sustain village institutions alone. This assumption was rapidly challenged across Britain. Organizations like the Women’s Voluntary Service (WVS), which Mrs. B. and Mrs. Tilling participate in, mobilized over 1 million women for civil defense and support roles (Bell, Bethan. “Women's Voluntary Service: ‘The Army Hitler Forgot.