Review: The Wedding Dress Sewing Circle (by Jennifer Ryan)

My Rating:  4 stars

This is the third of Jennifer Ryan's novels that I've read and I enjoyed it just as much as I did her previous works.  One of the things I appreciated about this book is that, despite the similar background and setting (the home front in the British countryside during WWII) to both The Chilbury Ladies' Choir and The Kitchen Front, Ryan still managed to make this a very different story. With most of the men off fighting in the war, the women at the home front do what they can to support the war effort.  But with all the rationing taking place and the severe limitations on necessities from food to clothing, challenges abound for those trying to keep things going at home.  It is against this backdrop that we meet 3 spirited women from different walks of life who are brought together through a joint effort of wanting to help other women celebrate love by mending wedding dresses for brides across the country. 

Cressida Wescott grew up in Aldhurst village, but left when she was in her twenties due to a falling out with her brother.  After fleeing to London, she makes a name for herself as one of the country's top fashion designers — not an easy feat, especially for a single woman given the sentiments of the time and the traditions that confined most women to a life of marriage and motherhood.  All goes well until both Cressida's London home and her design house are bombed to ashes in the London Blitz and instantly, she loses everything that she worked so hard to establish.  With no other recourse, Cressida has no choice but to return to Aldhurst and stay with her niece and nephew while she rebuilds her business, all the while hoping that the two of them are kinder and more hospitable than their late father was.  While her niece Violet is thrilled that the famous aunt she never knew will be staying with them, she has her own "trouble" to worry about in the form of the conscription letter for war work that she receives, which effectively dashes her lifelong dream of marrying an aristocratic husband.  Meanwhile, Grace Carlisle, the local vicar's daughter, is engaged to be married and wants desperately to be able to wear her mother's wedding gown for the ceremony.  For Grace, it's a special way to remember her beloved mother, who died 10 years ago, and also her only hope for a traditional white wedding given the mandatory wartime clothes rationing, which has made wedding gowns a scarce commodity.  Unfortunately, her mother's wedding gown is too damaged to wear without repairing, so Grace brings it to her sewing club in the hopes that, together with the other ladies in the club, they are able to salvage it.  It is there that she meets Cressida, who decides to accompany Violet to one of the meetings, and as they come up with a plan to repair the wedding gown, the women also form an unexpected, close friendship.  Soon, the "project" of repairing Grace's wedding dress expands into the broader idea of a wedding dress exchange program where the ladies from the sewing circle mend donated wedding dresses and lend them out to other brides so they can get the chance to have a white wedding of their own.

I loved the concept of this story and felt that Jennifer Ryan did a great job writing about the time period in a way that made me feel like I was there sharing the characters' experiences. Speaking of the characters — I also loved how, once again, Ryan's main female protagonists were all strong, admirable women who had no problem standing up against the conventions of the time. The narrative alternates between Cressida's, Violet's and Grace's perspectives, and together, we get the entirety of their shared story and experiences.  While there was a little more romance in this one than I expected, especially when compared to the previous two books of hers that I had read, it didn't overshadow the rest of the story, so I was fine with it.

Overall, this was in the same vein of Ryan's previous two "home front" themed novels in that the tone was lighthearted and uplifting, though it also dealt with serious issues in a respectful, non- heavy handed way.  Having said that, I did feel that the story as a whole was a tad longer than it needed to be, especially around the midway mark, where some of the scenes felt repetitive and I felt like I was losing interest, but I kept with it and am glad I did, as the story turned out well in the end.

I enjoyed this one and definitely recommend it, especially for fans of Jennifer Ryan's previous works about women's wartime effort on the home front.  Also if you're looking for a WWII-themed read that's resonant and poignant but not too heavy, this one fits the bill quite nicely.

Received ARC from Ballantine Books via NetGalley.

Review: The Kitchen Front (by Jennifer Ryan)

My Rating: 4 stars

This is author Jennifer Ryan's third novel and while it's only the second one of hers that I've read, I enjoyed it just as much.  One of the things that had really appealed to me back when I read Ryan's debut The Chilbury Ladies' Club a few years back was the way she was able to paint a vivid picture of the home front in England during WWII.  This was a time period where all able-bodied men were expected to enlist and help with the war effort at the front lines, leaving behind mostly women and children (and men who had gotten out of being drafted) to take care of things at home.   With her newest novel, Ryan once again captures the sentiment of the time, through the story of 4 women who join a wartime cooking contest in the hopes of landing a prime spot as co-host of a popular BBC radio program.  Each woman has her own reasons and motivations for joining the contest.  Audrey, a widow whose beloved husband was killed serving his country and now, laden with debt and 3 young sons to take care of, decides that the only way to save the dilapidated house she lives in and therefore keep a roof over her family's head is to win the contest so that she can get a steady, well-paying job.  Gwendoline – Audrey's estranged sister and also the wife of the wealthiest man in the village – enters the contest expecting a sure-fire win that will further cement her status in society, though deep down, she is motivated by a profound lack of self-worth spurred by her violent husband Sir Strickland's disdain and loathing.  Nell is an orphan turned kitchen maid who yearns for freedom from life-long servitude in the Strickland household and sees the contest as an opportunity to finally realize her dreams for a better life.  And finally, Zelda Dupont is a trained chef displaced from London after the hotel she worked at is bombed – having experienced a lifetime of hardship and lost opportunities due to being a woman, she is determined to win the contest so she can return to London at the top of her game and give the men dominating the profession a run for their money.

 

Through a narrative that alternates between each of the four women's perspectives, we are given keen insight into not just how the war impacts each of their lives, but more importantly, how they persevere and overcome the challenges they're faced with in order to make the best of what they have.  In reading the Author's Note at the end, it was fascinating to learn that parts of the story were actually inspired by real-life events – from the idea of contests (which were popular during that time period due the entertainment it provided and the ability to divert people's minds away from the horrors of the war), to food rationing and the need to pay close attention to ingredients being used, to the actual BBC radio program entitled The Kitchen Front that had been established to share recipes as well as cooking tips and techniques during the war.  I was impressed by the amount of research that went into the story as well as the transportive nature of the writing. Most of all though, I love the food-themed elements incorporated throughout the story, especially the recipes and the resourcefulness of the women who had to find ways to adapt the meals they cooked out of necessity during the war.   Ryan writes in her author's note that many of the recipes she incorporated into the story were from the National Archives as well as from people she interviewed who had lived through those times.  It humbled me to think about how much we take for granted nowadays on food-related matters when back then, it was such a battle just to get food onto the table.  This is one of the aspects I've always loved about historical fiction — its ability to make history more relatable to those of us who never experienced it.

Having read two of Ryan's books, both of which have been inspiring as well as uplifting, I look forward to reading more of her works, including her sophomore novel, published in 2019, that I was not able to get to at the time. If you get the chance to pick up this newest one up, I definitely highly recommend it! 

Received ARC from Ballantine Books via NetGalley

Review: The Chilbury Ladies' Choir (by Jennifer Ryan)

My Rating: 4 stars

Written in a unique manner that consists entirely of letters and journal entries, The Chilbury Ladies' Choir is a delightful tale about the trials and tribulations that the citizens of a small town in England go through as their country is plunged into World War II. When the story begins, most of the men in the small town of Chilbury have been sent off to war, leaving behind all the women of the town as well as the older men from the ruling families to carry on as best they can. The village's Vicar decides to disband the long-running Chilbury Choir because he feels they "can't have a choir without men," however when music professor Primrose Trent arrives in town, she convinces him to allow the choir to be reinstated. Under Prim's leadership, the Chilbury Ladies' Choir is formed and not long after that, the group takes on the important role of uniting and uplifting their small community as it struggles to deal with the chaos brought on by the war. 

The story is told from the perspectives of multiple characters who record in vivid detail the day-to-day happenings in their small village. Through these' characters' letters and journal entries, we as readers get to bear witness to everything from local town gossip to major issues of life and death, but throughout it all, we get to see the fighting spirit of this wonderful group of women who all contribute to the war effort in their own ways. At times funny and heartwarming, especially when depicting the minor squabbles between villagers, yet also tragic and heartbreaking when lives are lost during the first raids on the village, the book actually covers quite a bit of ground on the emotional spectrum. Content-wise, it deals with a variety of issues ranging from class system, gender stereotypes, society conventions and expectations, to family relationships, love and romance, scandals, betrayals, the resilience of the human spirit, etc., all set against the historical backdrop of the war and its impact on the lives of ordinary citizens.

For me personally, I enjoyed reading about the different characters and how their backgrounds shape their actions and experiences throughout the book. Almost all of the characters (except for one or two) are likable in some way and even the ones that are flawed have redeeming qualities that make it difficult to hate them even when they do unscrupulous things. It was also interesting to see how the same situation / event could be viewed in completely different ways and how the actions that we take based on that can result in drastic consequences. I also like how the characters were portrayed realistically, which made it easier to relate to what the characters were going through. As I was reading, I kept drawing similarities of some of the characters to people I know in real life (for example – the exceedingly annoying Mrs. B, who is pompous and rude and loves to flaunt her wealth but is actually a good person underneath). This made the reading experience fun and enjoyable, despite the at times heavy subject matter.

I definitely recommend this book, especially for its uplifting, "feel-good" quality, which is hard to come by in a book set in the WWII era. This is actually one of the few war-related books I've read in recent months that didn't leave me feeling sad and depressed. Enjoyable and delightful read!

Received advance reader's copy from Crown Publishing via Blogging for Books and NetGalley.