With Hearts and Hymns and Voices

by Pam Rhodes

In a small village of Sandford, everyone gets into the act when TV producer Jan Harding and her hard-working and enthusiastic crew come to film a broadcast for Palm Sunday.

Genres: Fiction, Christian

352 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 1996

About the author

Pam Rhodes for many years has presented the world’s numberone religious television program, Songs of Praise on BBC. She writes for the UK national newspaper, the Daily Mail, and is also a successful novelist—author of The Dunbridge Chronicles, With Hearts and Hymns and Voices, and four other novels, as well as a number of additional books.

Reviews

[Kate Baxter · Rating 4 out of 5]

A gentle cozy story of the small Suffolk village of Sanford, England where small town meets big media production when the BBC rolls in to film a 1/2 hour program for their "Village Praise" series. The village may be small but it certainly is not short on character nor characters. The story centers on the Parish Church of St. Michael's and all the usual suspects of parish life: the busy-body, the blustery Chairman of the Parish Council, the Vicar, his haggard wife, the organist and choirmaster, a bored musically talented teen and the ladies flower guild. Then the BBC rolls in and takes over the town (admittedly in as gentle a way as was feasible) yet feathers still get ruffled.

This is a sweet slice of life with a gentle and steady pace. It gives us a very good overview of the details and care which go into the making of a television program. Put the kettle on, fluff the pillow and curl up in your comfy chair for an afternoon of cozy reading.

[Lizzy C · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ideally I’d give this book 2.5 stars.

This story gave a really interesting window into the making of a television programme. There were lots of new processes and steps I learnt about through the team of characters involved. The focus on faith and religion isn’t a subject I’d normally select, but I loved hearing how people’s faith touches their lives and brings them peace. I also loved that it was based in my local area of Suffolk and mentioned lots of beautiful, familiar features of this county. Pam Rhodes perfectly captures the ebb and flow of village life, the relationships and routines of the residents. I sometimes felt this was a bit too central - I read predominantly for escapism and so this style didn’t really tick my box. At times I did have to persuade myself to continue reading (I don’t like to give up on a book). The nature of village life means there wasn’t one big exciting event that the story built up to. Rather, there were many smaller challenges to overcome. The regular switching between viewpoints made the story more interesting, though I felt that all the characters “spoke” with the same voice and needed to be a bit more individually defined. Some of the relationships between characters felt artificial too and didn’t reflect the plot as a whole - one particularly central relationship is left hanging at the end with little to no solution. I wouldn’t recommend this novel particularly but it was a steady and low effort read.

[Theresa · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very warm and cozy read, "With Hearts and Hymns and Voices" makes you want to snuggle up in your favorite chair and spend the afternoon with the residents of Sandford, a small Suffolk village in the UK. Life in the village (just like in my village) seems to focus around the church. Anyone growing up in a small town will be able to place the characters in there own town - the busybodies, the helpers, the troublemakers, the peacemakers... they're all here.

When the BBC decides they are going to film in Sanford for a television show, all chaos begins. Everyone wants to be in the show, and some will go to great lengths to get there. Then there are others who will go out of there way to keep the show from being filmed. I found this all very amusing and very true to life.

This is a very well written book, but the pace, like the village is slower than what I would have expected. This wasn't a bad thing for me, as I savored the time frame and getting to know the characters better than I would have in a fast paced book. It was certainly an enjoyable read for me.

[J M Miles]

A very lighthearted novel based around the well-known Songs of Praise programme.
Some believable characters are depicted throughout, some of whom remind me of my own church congregation!
An enjoyable read with God at the centre throughout .

[Hannah · Rating 2 out of 5]

Just couldn’t get into this book. Liked her Dunbridge Chronicles but this one didn’t appeal as much. Lots of characters and I couldn’t get interested in them.

[Anne Harvey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Written by Pam ~Rhodes, former presenter of the BBC's Sunday evening programme, 'Songs of Praise', this book is the fictionalised account of a 'Songs of Praise' spin-off, 'Village Praise,' coming to a village in Suffolk to televise one of its programmes. And, typically of any small community anywhere, there are the usual characters, the village busybody, the pompous over-bearing church warden, the vicar who's so heavenly minded, he's no earthly use, the put-upon vicar's wife who becomes attracted to one of the BBC crew. All the characters are warm and believable individuals, full of humour and all-too-human failings. As might be expected with a book of this kind, there is a strong religious theme but this in no way detracts from a lovely heart-warming and life-affirming read.

[Lisa Rowles · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book details the efforts of the BBC to film "Village Praise", a spin-off show from "Songs of Praise". It's an amusing story, told through several characters ideas about how the show should or shouldn't be done. There is an interesting subplot about the Vicar's wife feeling neglected and generally put upon - which has an ambigious(unresolved) ending. I would have enjoyed a more definite event occuring myself.

The only discordant note for me was that Pam Rhodes wrote herself in as a character in the third person which seemed a bit strange.

[Teresa · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this after taking part in a filming of Songs of Praise and I think Pam Rhodes has it pretty well drawn of both characters and the way things are.

[Margaret Chind]

*Thanks to Kregel Publications for providing a copy for review through FIRST Wild Card Tours.*