All Together Now by Gill Hornby will be featured on the Radio 2 Book Club on Monday 29 June.
The book was selected with the help of a panel made up of Reading Agency and library staff from across the UK.
We have an exclusive extract available for you to read as well as some discussion questions for your reading group.
All Together Now
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?
Selection panel review
Our reading panel of The Reading Agency and public library staff really enjoyed All Together Now – here are some of their comments:
“Such an enjoyable book about small towns, the importance of community, and the joy of music. So easy to get into and I whizzed through it. An undeniable feel-good novel.”
“This is a light-hearted, feel-good book, tapping in to the interest in community choirs and the therapeutic benefits of singing. The characterization is appealing, having such a wide range of different ages and backgrounds, yet showing how one activity – singing – can bring them together with a common purpose. My interest was engaged in wanting to know what happens to each character and I was taken along with their individual development as the story progressed. The ending has all the excitement of a good film or TV programme. It was the sort of book I didn’t want to end.”
About the author
Gill Hornby is a writer and journalist. She lives with her husband, Robert Harris, and their four children in Kintbury, Berkshire. Her first novel, The Hive, was a top ten Sunday Times bestseller.
A word from Gill
“I feel so honoured that All Together Now has been chosen for the Simon Mayo Book Club. Any opportunity to connect a new book to a new reader is exciting but I am especially thrilled as the novel is, at heart, a celebration of pop music, singing along and the power of joining together…all those good things that everyone associates with Radio 2.”
Get involved
Tune in to Simon Mayo’s Drivetime show on Monday 29 June to hear a live interview with Gill Hornby talking about her book.
Have you read All Together Now? You can share your thoughts on Twitter, or you can post a review. You can also follow author Gill Hornby on Twitter.
Win 10 copies of All Together Now for your reading group – just complete our short survey
Want to find out more? The Radio 2 Book Club has a dedicated Twitter feed.
