With Hearts and Hymns and Voices: A novel (The Dunbridge Chronicles)

A sparkling novel about the BBC 'Songs of Praise' team recording a Palm Sunday broadcast from a small idyllic Suffolk village. As the outside broadcast vehicles roll in, ambitions and emotions run high. Producer Jan Harding finds the vicar, Clive Linton, hopelessly absent-minded. His practical wife Helen gets on well with the television team - perhaps a little too well, where the charming, enigmatic Michael is concerned. Charles, the Parish Council chairman, is deeply opposed and resents the enthusiasm of other villagers - including his wife Betty. Bunty Maddocks, queen of every local committee, plots to get round the ban on church flowers during Lent; retired accountant Jack Diggens finds purpose, faith and friendship as he plans tickets and seating; and teenage soloist Anna surprises herself with her success. This delightful story will make you laugh and cry. When the BBC Songs of Praise team decides to broadcast a Palm Sunday service from a small idyllic Suffolk village, not everyone is happy. The vicar, Clive, is amiably absent-minded, but his practical wife Helen gets on well with the television team - perhaps a little too well, where the charming, enigmatic Michael is concerned. Charles, the Parish Council chairman, is deeply opposed and resents the enthusiasm of other villagers - including his wife Betty. As the outside broadcast vehicles roll in, the emotional temperature rises... When BBC producer Jan Harding arrives at the small idyllic Suffolk village to begin production of the Palm Sunday broadcast of Songs of Praise -- a television program featuring hymns sung by real congregations -- she finds out that the vicar, Clive Linton, is hopelessly absent-minded and not impressed that the top BBC religious program chose to come to his church. His practical wife, Helen, however, gets on well with the television team -- perhaps a little too well, where the charming, enigmatic rigger Michael is concerned. A heartwarming novel about the impact 'Songs of Praise' has on an idyllic village in rural Suffolk.