Chris Cleave’s newest novel begins with Mary North and Alistair Heath on the first day England enters World War II. Everyone Brave Is Forgiven is a perfect wartime love story inspired by the real-life love letters between Cleave’s grandparents.

Based on Jennifer Ryan’s grandmother’s stories of World War II, The Chilbury Ladies’ Choir follows the paths of five women as the war forces them to defy their vicar’s stuffy edict to shutter the church’s choir in the absence of men and instead “carry on singing.”