Chicklit Club
 

NEW RELEASE

 
 

All Together Now - Gill Hornby (2015)

 

With long-term leader Connie in a coma, numbers dwindling and the County Championships drawing closer, the Bridgeford Community Choir is facing its toughest test. Bridgeford is hardly a hub of new blood or talent, but this is exactly what the choir needs to find if it’s to continue. As steadfast members Alice and Lewis go on their own recruitment drive, up steps single mum Tracey and newly separated Bennett. And before long there’s more, if reluctant, recruits joining. Perhaps Bridgeford Community Choir may just have a chance at County Championship success. This is one of the funniest novels I've read in ages and was an absolute joy to get lost in. Hornby’s comic observances and witty repartee is perfectly pitched, but it’s her characterization that really excels, from bumbling Bennett, the hapless hero, to Lynn and Pat, the female answer to Bert and Ernie. Yet despite the comic brilliance, there’s a warming, inspirational, if cheesy, message about community spirit, companionship and working together to a common goal within it all. With such a huge ensemble of characters, it would be easy for them all to become a bit confusing or homogenous but Hornby infuses everyone from her leading lady to her minor roles with identity and personality. The plot and subplot development is a little thin especially concerning events outside of the choir, but honestly it barely matters such is the brilliance of the humour and the magnitude of the characters. There is a very British stamp to it all, and Hornby makes the scenes and characters so vivid that as you read it you can’t help but imagine it brought to life on screen in the vein of classic British films, complete with Mamma-Mia-esque singalong in the final scene. It's very much a screenplay waiting to happen. This is a novel that hits all the right notes and will have you laughing, and very likely singing, along. (JC)

 
 

All Together Now, by Gill Hornby, is about living in harmony and finding your true voice. The summary says: "The small town of Bridgeford is in crisis. The high street is half empty, businesses are closing and the idea of civic pride seems old-fashioned to the commuters rushing home from work. Somehow, it seems to have lost its heart. But there is one thing that might just bring the town together: music. The Bridgeford Community Choir has a chance of winning the county championship. First though, the small band of singers must find a lot of new members and a whole new sound. Enter Tracey - one of life's soloists, and hiding a secret past; Bennett - a church choir refugee, baffled by the modern world. And Jazzy - who sees her voice as her passport straight out of town to a future of fame and fortune. Can they really fit in with dependable old regulars like Annie? Can they learn to work together, save their singing group and maybe even their community?"

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