I loved this historical fiction book. Taking the cookbook of her aunt, the niece pulls together the incredible story of Miss Graham, her aunt, who became an OSS espionage agent in Germany during the Cold War. To get information back to England, Edith has created the perfect foil. She is also the author of a popular magazine cooking column and sends information via her cookery musings. This unique book is sure to please historical fiction lovers who have read their share of WWII stories and are ready to move on

Celia Rees managed to create a novel that differentiates itself from the typical WWII historical fiction that floods the library shelves. "Miss Graham's Cold War Cookbook" is set after WWII when Britain has established the Control Commission for Germany, which oversees their zone of occupation. Somewhat bored with her life, Edith Graham decides to apply for a position with the Control Commission. Recipes fill the beginning pages of every chapter in the book and unless looked at closely, they remain just that, recipes. The novel slowed for me a little bit toward the middle but I'm so glad I persevered. The ending is rewarding where trust and loyalty are tested and you're left wondering until the last page how it will all come to a close.

Overall, I really enjoyed Miss Graham’s Cold War Cookbook. The story focuses on Edith, a young British woman, who chooses to join the recovery effort as an Education Officer in Germany after WWII. Edith is soon recruited as a spy to help track down Nazis in hiding, specifically Kurt Von Stavenow. She shares messages back with her handlers through codes written as recipes which I thought added a creative twist to the book. The author included some good historical information for that time period. I felt like I was really there. I did find a few spots where I lost track of the characters, especially at the beginning. However, if you like WWII historical fiction, I recommend picking up this book to read.

I did not expect to love this one as much as I did. This is excellently written historical fiction, in the vein of The Alice Network and The Bells. I was completely captivated by the story, and the setting was brought to life excellently. The use of food and recipes throughout was a wonderful way to weave continuity into a plot that had lots of moving parts.

I’m amazed the post-war period isn’t covered in more contemporary historical fiction novels these days. It’s a fascinating period of history that provides tons of fodder for a complex historical fiction novel.

I cannot wait to see what this author writes next! Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for my complimentary copy. All opinions are my own.

Miss Graham's Cold War Cookbook by Celia Rees is based on the aftermath of World War 2 and finding Nazi's hiding, holding them accountable for their war crimes. Edith joins British forces and disguises her correspondence as recipes. This is an interesting take on World War 2 and how it effected everyone. Rees does an amazing job describing the torture and absolute disgusting actions taken against the "inferior" community during the war. I will say, most of the recipes did not appeal to my palate but I can appreciate the hardships during this time. I found the background history very interesting and showed me interesting facts that I didn't know.
Overall, the book had a sad historical plot. We know the story but I loved the take on the spies and the way they did their job. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes historical fiction, especially surrounding post-war Germany.
Special thanks to NetGalley, Celia Rees, and HarperCollins- William Morrow Publishing for the advance digital copy of Miss Graham's Cold War Cookbook in exchange for my honest opinion.
#MissGrahamsColdWarCookbook #NetGalley

Miss Graham’s Cold War Cookbook is one of those books that will stay with you long after you finish it. Extraordinary women in a changing world. Longing to do her part after spending WWII at home in Britain, Edith is sent to Germany to help uncover a network of Cold War spies and war criminals. She finds of world of hardship, recovery, double-dealing, & questionable loyalties in front of her. She must discover who she can really trust but also who she really is inside.

This book takes place after WWII, and tells the story of a young woman who "wants to make a difference". She ends up being involved in an espionage ring whose purpose is to flush out Nazi war criminals. She comes up with a creative way in passing information back and forth - through coded recipes. On the surface, the recipe appears to be just that; but in the hands of her counterparts - and with the help of a master cookbook used for decoding - she can deliver messages as to movements of the people in interest. I enjoyed that this book wasn't "just another WWII book", but took a fresh approach to a topic that is less explored. Although the ending was a bit of a twist, it was appropriate, as nothing that involves war should ever be resolved with an nice, neat ending. Thanks to Netgalley for ARC ebook of this book!

Miss Graham’s Cold War Cookbook was an enlightening read that takes place post-World War II. Edith Graham is a British schoolteacher hired by the Control Commission to help reestablish German schools. When her cousin, Leo, finds out that Edith is headed to Germany, he recruits her as a spy. Her subject is a former beau. Edith transforms into her new persona, Stella Snelling, a cookbook author, in order to embed secret code in recipes to send back to the British Secret Service.

I enjoyed reading this unique book sprinkled with encoded recipes and menus. The story is full of twists and turns with a surprise ending.

Thank you NetGalley and William Morrow for this ARC. In return, I am submitting my unbiased and voluntary review and opinion.

I am posting this review to my Goodreads, Amazon, and Book Club Girls Facebook accounts.

#MissGrahamsColdWarCookbook #NetGalley

Edith Graham speaks German, is a teacher, not married, and looking for an adventure, she is recruited to go to Germany and work setting up schools in the British controlled sector of Germany after WW II. Celia Rees has written an entertaining book of post WW II in Germany and the hunt for war criminals. Using the pseudonym of Stella Snelling who has a cooking column, she is able to code messages.

I love historical fiction and I thought Rees did an excellent job giving the reader a look at Germany, the spy world of ordinary people doing the work of spies. The book starts slowly and then takes off. I would suggest that the reader keep a character chart. My thanks to Book Club Girls, Harper Collins, and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thanks to William Morrow/Harper Collins and The Book Club Girl Early Reads for an advanced copy in exchange for my review.

Set in 1946 in Germany, Edith joins the British Control Commission for Germany where she is hired to help re-build the schools in British controlled areas. She is quickly asked to spy and gets caught in the web of Post WWII American, British, Soviet race to spy on each other, and who to trust when each country has it's own goal and mission for former high ranking Nazi officials.

I loved the Post WWII setting, there have been so many WWII books that I loved that this was different and gave a glimpse into the early days of the Cold War. The writing and historical details were detailed and at times it got slightly confusing and a little bogged down in the middle of the book, but the ending was surprising and I really enjoyed this book!

Historicals taking place in the WWII time period are among my favorites, and I’ve loved the fact that they’re experiencing a surge of popularity right now. Miss Graham’s Cold War Cookbook offers a glimpse into a unique moment of that era, examining just how the Allies handled the immediate aftermath of victory.

Edith Graham was living a double life long before she became a double agent. All through the war she was a modern language teacher during the day and in the evenings came home to care for her overbearing mother. But on her trips to visit a non-existent school friend in London she became Stella Snelling, a more glamorous version of herself who wore silk, had a lover named Leo and was a popular cookery correspondent, dishing out advice on how to make delicious meals out of meagre rations.

Once the Allied victory is achieved, Edith realizes that her time as Stella will be coming to an end and impulsively applies for a position at the British Control Commission, which oversees one of the occupation zones. Her fluent German and teaching experience quickly earn her a spot on the team. As part of The Commission, Edith will work in Germany, helping rebuild the shattered nation’s school system. But she is also drafted by Leo, who is in the Secret Service. Back in their younger days both Leo and Edith had been close friends with Sturmbannführer Kurt von Stavenow, once a student at Oxford and now a wanted war criminal. Leo needs her to find Kurt, so he can be integrated into a hush-hush British weapons facility.

Leo isn’t the only one who recruits her. Former SOE F Section intelligence officer Vera Atkins is looking for an ally in Germany, someone who will inform her when wanted war criminals such as SS Officer Stavenow are found. Vera’s (very legitimate) fear is that between Operations Haystack (Britain) and Paperclip (United States), men responsible for killing thousands of innocent civilians and dozens of British agents will be repatriated into allied nations without repercussions because of their useful scientific and strategic knowledge.

Edith concurs wholeheartedly with Vera’s desire for justice and agrees to pass information to her while limiting what she sends to Leo. This will help Vera’s team bring the Nazi officers to justice before Leo’s team can erase their war histories while benefiting from their expertise. Needing a way to communicate that won’t tip off her handlers to her new loyalties, Edith offers up the idea of using recipes as a code for hidden messages. She will embed any crucial intelligence she finds within cooking instructions she sends to her close friend Dori, another of Vera’s agents. Dori and Vera warn her that the work will be dangerous. Collaborators, black marketeers, and communist agents all abound in Germany and many are working hard to help former Nazis forge new identities but Edith is excited about the task and confident she is up for the challenge.

Miss Graham’s Cold War Cookbook is what I call a ‘night stand book’. The story is interesting enough that while the novel is in your hand, you will be engaged in what is happening. The pacing is leisurely enough, though, that you will find yourself easily setting it down when it is time to fall asleep. Not much actually happens in its five hundred plus pages. It’s mostly conversations – talks between friends, talks between adversaries, talks between lovers. Until the last few chapters there is very little action.

In some ways, Edith is the ideal heroine for this meandering narrative. Her calm, rational demeanor is a perfect complement for the silent, treacherous war being waged in Germany after peace has been declared. As new alliances are forged, new rivalries and priorities emerge and she deftly weaves her way through this political conundrum, remaining true to her own morals rather than allowing either Leo or Vera to fully sway her to their own far more cryptic plans.

However, I had some issues with Edith, too. She received no training in espionage at any point in the novel but through the magic of fiction, accomplished more than most professionals did. She stumbles across crucial information with ease. She and Dori are able to work out a code in one night that professionals couldn’t crack. She develops her own network of reliable, devoted helpers within a month of landing on German shores. She slips through numerous attempts to kill her with little difficulty and only minor injuries.

Yet she is naive enough to fall for simple tricks. She never asks questions about precisely how critical information came to her or why certain people always seem to know where she is. Most importantly, the whole setup of “Stella Snelling” appears at only the beginning and end of the book. Edith doesn’t use her alter-ego while working as a spy in Germany and I found that both frustrating and confusing. An ability to disguise herself and use an alternate persona seemed to be the only talent for subterfuge she initially had but it is never utilized during a time when it would seem natural for it to be.

The secondary characters, with the exception of Dori, are never fully developed and Leo especially could have used some depth. The text presents him simply as a shallow, mildly charming, deeply coercive, opportunistic sod – which might have been sufficient had Edith not been his lover at various points in her life. I was left wondering what exactly had drawn her to him. I struggled with the contrast between her seeming ability to readily spot the “bad hats” in Germany and her inability to spot the troublesome people in her own life. I also wondered why the fierce, talented, driven Dori wasn’t the heroine of this book. Intelligent, and a skilled agent, she would have made for a more interesting lead character.

One area of the novel which shone with a nuanced, detailed presentation was the setting. Germany after the war is devastated; its cities are in ruins, the country is being torn asunder by various Allied factions, the people are starving, the children homeless and without clothes to protect them from the brutal winter or food to fill out their emaciated frames. It is easy to pity them but the author also skillfully blends stories of the war atrocities committed by the Nazis into her text, which set up a contrast between the past horrors and present difficulties.

Miss Graham’s Cold War Cookbook won’t be a good fit for all readers but if you are someone who enjoys long, leisurely reads and who can swallow your suspension of disbelief and simply sit back and enjoy a story, it may be perfect for you.

I don't usually read much Holocaust-related fiction, especially since I've read so many real, first-hand accounts in diaries, memoirs, etc. And -- mostly since I've had children -- it's just not something I enjoy reading about anymore. But I'm glad I didn't realize that this book had so much of that because I would have missed this one and it was so good. I can't recommend it enough.

World War II is newly over, but the Russians are the new threat. Edith Graham, a 30-something-year-old teacher (an old maid!) is recruited by her cousin Leo to go to Germany as a spy to help find higher-up Nazis who have gotten away, including one, Kurt von Stavenow, who she had an affair with in the far past, and his wife, who she also became close to. She is also soon recruited by two women -- Adeline (a war photographer) and Dori (a very successful British spy during the war) -- who also ask for her help in finding the same Nazis, for a very different purpose. To help Adeline and Dori, she uses her alter ego Stella Snelling, food critic and recipe author, to send hidden messages in her recipes.

I loved Edith's character. She is absolutely naive and innocent, but she also has a very strong moral compass. She's the kind of person you'd want to become friends with because you know she is going to be loyal and kind and still fun to be around (especially if she brings the food.)

And she is such a juxtaposition from Kurt's character -- and the absolute unquestionable evil that he represents -- that she especially stands out as perhaps the best of the good guys.

There's so much to dissect here, really, but it would be nearly impossible without spoiling the ending, which I won't do. But I will say, the ending was incredibly satisfying. This is a book that will stay with me a while, but in a good way.

Thank you to NetGalley and the Book Club Girl at William Morrow for providing me with a copy of this arc. It did not influence my opinion.

3.5 stars rounded up. Miss Graham’s Cold War Cookbook by Celia Rees is a twist turning, alliance shifting tale of spies and Nazi hunters after World War II. Edith is a teacher who leaves England after the war searching for adventure in Germany. There she encounters spies, secret and double agents, war survivors, and Nazis. Edith works as a spy sending codes in recipes.

I enjoyed the story but there is a lot of descriptive narrative in this story which makes it a very slow read at times. The characters are very interesting, particularly the women who volunteer or are used in the spy networks.

Thank you to #netgalley and the publisher for the advanced e-copy. #missgrahamscoldwarcookbook

Thank you Net Galley got the ARC of this title for my honest opinion. This book is great, but so heartbreaking. The characters are well developed, strong, and enjoyable. The main character, Edith, is in her early thirties, single and wants to help out in rebuilding Germany after WWII. She ends up going in under a double-spy mission and takes the role seriously. What better way to share codes and updates obtained as a spy but in a cookbook? She saves young children and makes the ultimate sacrifice. I love WWII fiction and this great representation of this genre.

Brilliant! I haven't been so absorbed in a post WW2 novel for ages!

Not you're usual post 1945 European reconstruction story. This is set mainly in Germany after the surrender.
Edith Graham decides that now is the time to do her bit and she applies to work for the British government Control Commission for Germany, concerned with rebuilding that nation and searching for war criminals.
Before she leaves London for Germany she is briefed by Vera Atkins about possibly discovering the fate of four British women agents dropped behind enemy lines who disappeared. Two other women will form part of this coterie, her friend Dorie and journalist Adeline Parnell.
Edith hits on the idea of using recipes as a coding method for sending messages between them.
Coupled with that is a request from her cousin Leo who's in the Secret Service asking her to make contact with an old flame, Count Kurt von Stavenow. It seems Kurt is a wanted war criminal, a Doctor involved in the most despicable of experiments.
Berlin is a hotbed of swirling competitive government agencies from the US, to Russia and Britain, all trying to gain information. Then there's Harry Hirsch, a member of the Jewish Brigade, acting as a pipeline for people moving to Israel and involved in tracking down high ranking Nazis and their sympathizers hidden amongst the European communities.
The lives of the ordinary people who have fled to places like Hamburg are stories of deprivation, starvation, inadequate shelter, and a lack of fundamental needs. Edith is involved in education. Black marketing is rife, as is the existence of the Nazi hierarchy, driven underground yet existing in relative comfort.
Riveting and compelling I was fully onboard and fully absorbed by the charged plot. The various characters introduced were real and present.
Simply put--a fabulous read!

A HarperCollins ARC via NetGalley
(Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.)

This is not your average historical fiction book, filled as it is with post-WWII deceit, competition, longing and friendship. Author Celia Rees tells a tale of women post-war, their stories are not often as welcoming or as jubilant as their male counterparts. It was to be expected, their lot post-war was mainly to disappear back into their pre-war lives; lives that no longer fit very well. The characters in this book did not intend to fade quietly away. They had some business to attend to and the energy to do it. The story is a good one. MISS GRAHAM’S COLD WAR COOKBOOK has some surprising twists that I didn’t anticipate, although they were a long time coming in the tale. I might not have been as patient a reader as the book required. For lovers of historical fiction and twisty tales, this book will engage and delight; it is well worth reading. I received my copy from the publisher through NetGalley.

A slow start, but so different from other WWII books that it held my attention.

A strong female lead working as a spy in WWII era is not typically something common in the historical fiction genre. Add in the fact she is sending intelligence through her alter-ego through recipes in a cook book is even more rare.

This really helped me stay with the story. I ended up liking this book, and I think a large part was because it doesn’t fit the mold of other historical fiction novels.

There's a lot of historical fiction out there about World War II so I'm always interested in a different point of view and Miss Graham's Cold War Cookbook definitely provides one.

Edith Graham spent the war working as a school teacher in a small English town. With the fighting over and bored with her provincial life, she signs up to work in Germany helping to rebuild the schools there. Fluent in German and with a perfect cover, Edith is recruited by her cousin who's in the British Secret Service to work as a spy helping to hunt Nazi war criminals including one who broke her heart. Once in Germany, Edith soon realizes that many of her acquaintances are not what they seem and must determine who deserves her loyalty and, most importantly, the information she uncovers which she shares via code embedded in seemingly meaningless recipes.

The book focuses on a group of amazing women and the risks they take to track war criminals and bring them to justice when the governments they work for want to find them to use for their own nefarious purposes now. Rees brings post-war Germany to life with her vivid descriptions of the physical destruction and you can feel the devastation and hopelessness of the citizens and other displaced people who are just trying to find ways to survive. She also recounts the horrors perpetrated during the war which so outrage Edith and her accomplices that they are willing to take matters into their own hands. The race to find and apprehend the criminals Edith has been tasked with delivering is gripping with lots of twists and turns you won't see coming. And then there's the food - each chapter starts with a recipe that sets the tone (and often includes the clues) for what's to come. If you're a historical fiction fan looking for a great story and colorful characters, this is the book for you.

Thank you to Book Club Girls, HarperCollins, and NetGalley for an advanced copy of the novel.

Set in Germany just after World War II, this novel tells the story of intrepid Edith Graham. After sitting out the war in England as a provincial schoolteacher and caring for her overbearing mother, Edith decides to take a job re-establishing schools in Germany for the British Control Commission of Germany. Her cousin Leo, a member of the British secret service, recruits her to find Count Kurt von Stavenow, a Nazi scientist wanted for war crimes. Prior to the war, Leo introduced Edith to Kurt and the two had an affair. To complicate matters further, Edith’s friend Dori is concerned that the both the Allies and the Soviets want ex-Nazi scientists in order to further their scientific experiments back home. Edith and Dori devise a plan to communicate information to each other using a secret code based on a cookery book. Unsure of her current feelings for her former lover, Edith sets out to try and ascertain Kurt’s whereabouts and bring him to justice. She soon finds out that no one is who they seem to be and not everyone can be trusted, even her cousin Leo.
This is an atmospheric story, giving the reader an incredible sense of time and place. The complete destruction of Germany; with cities laid to waste, people starving and fighting for whatever scraps of food they can find, and the desperate need by some to hold onto the ideals of Nazism that the were taught and fought for is vividly portrayed. While some aspects of the story lacks credulity, it is still a highly readable novel. Fast-paced and intriguing, with a likable heroine and interesting supporting characters, this will appeal to fans of historical fiction, women’s fiction and those that enjoy a female led espionage novel.

Edith Graham has stayed home with her mother long enough. She wants to do something. She blends in so she is perfect to be a spy in post WWII Germany, posing as an education officer. Her assignment is to find a former lover who is accused of war crimes. She reports her information in seemingly innocent recipes.

I loved this book. I felt that it was slow to begin, but then I was drawn into its story. I recommend this book for anyone who likes historical fiction with female protagonists.

Thank you to Book Club Girls, HarperCollins, and NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.