INTERNATIONAL ENTHUSIASM: Rights have sold in 12 countries: UK, Sweden, Germany, France, Portugal, Poland, Czech Republic, Spain, Holland, Norway, Brazil, and China.

TELEVISION RIGHTS OPTIONED: Television rights have been optioned by Carnival TV, the production company behind Downton Abbey.

COMPELLING OFF-THE-PAGE STORY: The Chilbury Ladies’ Choir is loosely based on Ryan’s grandmother’s stories of wartime life in her tiny village in Kent. Her grandmother often recalled how exciting and heartbreaking (and sometimes scandalous) life was during these years, and spoke of how women became stronger through the experience of having to work and stick together to survive.

EVERGREEN SUBJECT: Novels about women during WWII, like The Nightingale, Sarah’s Key, and The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, consistently continue to fascinate.

PERENNIAL APPEAL OF ROMANTIC HISTORICAL FICTION: Readers of Sara Gruen, Paula McLain, and Melanie Benjamin will love the multiple love stories in this novel.

JENNIFER RYAN lives in the Washington, D.C., area with her husband and their two children. Originally from London, she was previously a nonfiction book editor.

Author Residence: McLean, VA

Author Hometown: Kent, UK

“A delightful debut.”
— People

“This well-written and absorbing tale will stay with the reader for a long time to come.”
— Bookreporter

“Compelling and exquisitely wrought.”
— Bookpage

“These strong, unforgettable characters will keep you reading late into the night. I could not put this wonderful book down.”
— The Missourian

“There’s so much happening in Chilbury: intrigue, romance and an unforgettable cast of characters who aren’t always as they appear. The Chilbury Ladies’ Choir is a charming slice of English wartime life that warms the soul like a hot toddy.“
— Martha Hall Kelly, New York Times bestselling author of Lilac Girls

”Lyrical, poetic, emotional, funny, endearing, surprising – it is a masterpiece."
— Veronica Henry, author of An Eligible Bachelor

“The Chilbury Ladies’ Choir sinks you deep inside the rich, intricate atmosphere of an English village in the middle of war, when quiet lives are upended and secrets unravel. With her unforgettable characters and vivid narrative, Jennifer Ryan creates the kind of wartime novel that plays out over the intimate territory of the human heart—full of soul, full of hope. You’ll be thinking about this book long after the last page turns.”
— Beatriz Williams, New York Times bestselling author of A Hundred Summers and The Secret Life of Violet Grant

“World War II in an English village seen through the eyes of the most delicious cast of characters you’ll ever meet—The Chilbury Ladies’ Choir is a masterpiece of secrets, misdirection, village gossip, and gleeful disregard for anything but the main chance, as the Home Front learns to carry on. Seldom do you find a writer with such a deft touch—Jennifer Ryan sweeps the reader along to the very last page in a remarkable debut. “
— Charles Todd, New York Times bestselling author of the Inspector Ian Rutledge series