The Angry Women’s Choir (Meg Bignell, Michael Joseph)

When going through tough times in life you often turn to any solace you can find, sometimes discovering it in the unlikeliest of places. For Freycinet Barnes that solace just happens to come in the form of a Tasmanian choir group, the West Moonah Women’s Choir, or, as they call themselves, the Angry Women’s Choir. After spending the day grocery shopping, going to meetings, taking the dog to the vet, mediating arguments between her children, being hit by a car (emerging unscathed) and then finding her husband caressing another woman, Frey finds herself in Laetare Gardens Function Centre listening to angelic voices speak their ‘furies’. What follows is a boisterous tale of music, friendship and women’s rights. While Meg Bignell’s novel is driven by the choir group’s feminist activism, the strength of the book lies in the sense of community the author creates. Each character in the choir has their own unique story and shares their love, fury, passion and history with the group. A few key characters have extensive backstories and through these Bignell explores many themes including grief, abuse, trauma, family life and, most of all, the mental load. At 432 pages, The Angry Women’s Choir has plenty of twists, turns and storylines—sometimes expected and other times surprising—to keep the reader engaged. For fans of Fiona Lowe’s A Home Like Ours or Clementine Ford’s Fight Like a Girl, this is a book that showcases the capabilities of women both individually and together as a community.

Lisa Schuurman is an editor, writer and book reviewer.

Category: Friday Unlocked reviews Reviews