I received an advanced copy of Miss Graham’s Cold War Cookbook. I have read a good amount of historical fiction, especially World War II era, so I was excited to check this out. I liked the premise—Postwar Europe was a mess with 4 competing powers trying to do things their way and the characters in this book were involved in trying to find Nazis in Postwar Germany. Overall I enjoyed the story itself but I do have two complaints: 1) The characters were a little hard to follow. There were a bunch and keeping track of who was from which country was a bit confusing. 2) I understand that the cookbook thing was used as a code but I don’t feel like it was really explained, especially since each chapter started with a recipe. Since it’s important to the story and a part of the title, I would have liked a little more explanation Or maybe an example of how they used it. I did enjoy the book and the main characters and what they were trying to do in the postwar era.

Edith Graham is a young Englishwoman who spent WW2 at home, teaching school and looking after her mother. Once the war ended, though, she decides to try to do something important. She volunteers to go to Germany to set up schools intended to help feed and educate children—and set them on a democratic path.

Because Edith is fluent in German, she is quickly hired. Just as quickly, she is asked by British intelligence to be on the lookout for Nazis hiding out, especially her 1930s Oxford lover, Kurt von Stavenow. Kurt became a doctor and SS man, involved in horrific crimes in the name of science.

Edith learns that there are several people who want to find Kurt, and their reasons vary. She becomes close to a Jewish man who wants to ensure Nazis cannot slip away into new lives. Edith’s friend Dori, a former behind-enemy-lines agent for Britain’s SOE, believes Kurt has the answer to the fate of four of her sister agents. On the other end of the spectrum, though, there are British and American agents who want to scoop Kurt up, along with other Nazis with science backgrounds, and use them to help develop weapons for the coming Cold War.

Edith’s trip through Germany and move to the Baltic city of Lubeck are eye-opening. Cities are in ruins, near-starving displaced persons are everywhere, black markets thrive, and figuring out who is and who isn’t a Nazi or Nazi sympathizer is a challenge. Edith’s search for Kurt soon puts her in danger, and the story ratchets up the tension until the final thrilling pursuit and twisty ending.

Thinking over the novel after I read it, I had to acknowledge that it has a number of flaws. Edith receives no intelligence training before being sent to Germany. She does almost nothing to maintain her school administrator cover. Edith seems to stumble, improbably, across every kind of war criminal, conspirator and grifter within days of her arrival in Germany. Some of the Nazi types she encounters come close to being B-movie caricatures. The recipe code she has worked out with Dori seems unlikely to convey the kind of detailed information it is claimed to do.

And yet Rees’s storytelling lifts the book above my after-the-fact quibbles. While I was reading I was fully engaged, feeling it was just a crackerjack espionage story. Despite the cozy-sounding title, it has a hard-boiled manner that suits the story perfectly. I definitely recommend it, especially if you’re interested in female-centric espionage novels.

I received a digital review copy from HarperCollins, via Netgalley.

There is no tidy end to war, there are always questions left to answer, lives to mourn, and societies to reassemble. Miss Graham’s Cold War Cookbook takes the reader back to 1946 with a young woman named Edith Graham. After spending her war years taking care of her mother and teaching at a girls school in England, Edith is looking for a way to contribute to the postwar effort. She signs up to serve as an Education Officer in the Control Commission for Germany, the British occupying civilian force. Her distant cousin Leo sees an opportunity to use Edith’s position as a cover for intelligence work, and he’s not the only one. Edith’s ex-boyfriend, Kurt von Stavenow was a dedicated Nazi, and now a number of groups have pinned their hopes of finding him on Edith.

The recipes at the beginning of each chapter take a bit of getting used to, but once I settled into the story I enjoyed finding how each recipe fit into the narrative. Until that point, I just had to plow through and trust there was a purpose for what seemed like a strange choice. Other plot and story details that I enjoyed veer too far into spoiler territory for me to comment on them. I recommend this book for fans of Kate Quinn’s Alice Network and The Huntress.

I received this book from the publisher via NetGalley for an honest review.

A very good book with really interesting characters taking place in Germany after the war. Spies, Nazis, and food a great combination.

What a delight! I was hoping this book would be similar to Kate Atkinson’s Transcription. The paths each author took were different but the stores had a similar feel. Edith, an average young English woman, is recruited to help locate Nazis in post-WW2 Germany. She devises a way to send messages to her handler hidden in recipes.
This novel will appeal to historical fiction lovers and readers who root for surprising heroines.

This book gave a very personal twist to the spy story. No one , especially men would ever suspect that the recipes contained in letters would really be useful information far beyond a meal.

I was fascinated by this book. Rees truly examines the aftermath of World War II in Germany from a mostly British point of view, but interweaves other nationalities as well as she examines spy craft from a primarily female point of view. Many do not realize the contributions of women both during and after the war. Miss Graham's Cold War Cookbook does not sugarcoat wartime atrocities, or post war activities. You feel like you are part of the story and become invested in the three main characters. This book will linger after you finish and leave you with wanting the sequel to fill in the timeline between the end of the story and 1989.

This is not my usual genre, but I wanted to give it a try! I liked several of the characters, but due to my wandering attention I had trouble keeping track of who was to be trusted. History buffs and fans of slow-burning spy novels will most likely enjoy the twisting plot sprinkled with descriptive recipes and wartime horrors in turn.

As much as I wanted to love this, it was just sort of slow to pick up. Sadly, that made it seem a little interminable.

In post WWII England with the Nuremberg trials coming, Edith is unmarried and offered the chance to leave her proscribed life as a teacher and carer for her mother. She jumps at what she feels is her last chance to make a difference by going to Germany to open schools. She also has an undercover mission: locate her former love Kurt von Stavenow. She is devastated to learn that he is one of the Nazi doctors who experim noted on children, Jews, and others. The Americans and British both want Kurt and will allow him to leave Germany unpunished in exchange for his knowledge. Edith's friend Dori is a spy and looking for the four women spies who disappeared during the war. She does not want Kurt o go unpunished. Edith, whose alter ego is Stella Snelling, cookery expert, agrees to help Dori. They develop a code to communicate using recipes. Edith is an innocent. She is trusting. "She is one of he good ones," as stated by Jack, her driver. As Edith questions her beliefs, her faith, her friends, and who she can trust, she grows and comes to realize what is truly important. This is a multilayered story that reveals the inequities of post war occupied Germany and the strength of the underground Nazi party.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the chance to read this arc in exchange for an honest review.

Celia Rees has written an interesting and moving novel about a time that tends to be neglected in the historical fiction genre. What happened directly after the war ended? What was it like in Germany as the victors attempted to secure justice for the millions of victims? I had envisioned a world where Nazis had slunk off to South America or been caught, or realized the errors of their ways. This book made me realize not so. The story alternates between two women, Edith (mostly) and Dori. Edith is looking to get out of her town in England, and actually live her life. Dori is working as a spy. I give this book 4 of 5 stars. My only criticism is sometimes it felt a little disconnected to me when it moved between characters. I really enjoyed this book and will be recommending it to others. The author really peaked my interest in this time after WW2- now I will have to read some non-fiction about it as well!

Fans of Susan Elia MacNeal's Maggie Hope series will enjoy this book set in post World War II Germany during Allied occupation following several fictional women who worked to uncover the war criminals left in the country.

A look into Germany immediately after the end of WWII, the book is filled with spies, the hunt for Nazi scientists, different ideas of justice, plans for rebuilding, and the new threat of Russia. At times complex, with many twists and turns, the pace really picks up as it races towards the unexpected conclusion. The cookbook references were a fun twist!

I found it hard to stick with this one, but I did finish it. At times it was hard to follow all of the different characters. It mainly just was not what I was truly expecting but the topic was an interesting one.

I really wanted to like this book more than I actually do. The post-WWII rebuild subplot involving education is a new approach to most books involving the war. The Nazi hunting was an interesting angle to take. But there was a lack of tension in the action. It seemed like things just moved along rather ploddingly until a major event happens to one of the characters, seemingly out of the blue. For me it didn't have the dramatic impact it should have. That being said, the ending was VERY satisfying. But the book overall reminded too much of the plot of a movie which I won't name because it's so similar, to do so would give the ending away.

Miss Graham's Cold War Cookbook gave me a glimpse into a part of WWII that I had never seen. The aftermath of the war and what happened to the German citizens as well as the Nazi's fleeing from their crimes was vividly told in this novel by Celia Rees. Edith wants to do her part to help rebuild after the war and she leaves her home in England to travel to Germany to reestablish the education system there. She has also been asked to keep her eyes open for a certain acquaintance of hers who she discovers was a member of the SS and committed atrocities during the war. As she becomes more and more involved in uncovering these atrocities and finding the people to blame she puts herself and those around her in danger. This novel opens doorways into the past that will have you asking questions about what really happened after the war and if there was justice after all.

Miss Graham’s Cold War Cookbook

Edith Graham a young British teacher, whose alter ego is Stella Snelling a cook book author who writes a cookery column. Edith is tired of her humdrum life after the war and applies for a position to the Control Commission for Germany (CCG) to help set up schools in post war Germany. She is coerced into undertaking a ‘bit’ of intelligence work, as a side to her main education role, by her cousin Leo while she is in Germany. Her friend Dori a former spy who worked for a secret outfit during the war hates the Germans and wants Edith to help her as she hunts down Nazis and brings them to justice.
Edith uses her cooking knowledge and sends recipes in codes back to her friend Dori of any information she hears or sees. Each chapter of the book has a recipe and a menu of a meal Edith has eaten.
“Food reveals a great deal. It also serves to fix the memory. Better than a diary. Even years later, the recall is instant”

Edith becomes not just a spy but also a target who gets caught up in a dangerous cat and mouse game. Edith has morals and stands up for what she sees is right and doesn’t stand for unfairness.
A past love of Edith’s before the war is Count von Stavenow who was introduced to her by Leo during a summer vacation in England . The Count now an SS Officer is wanted by the British and the Americans and Edith is determined to find him though his wife Elizabeth. But who can Edith trust and why do the British and Americans want the Count and his wife.

Post war Germany is described in detail both the destruction of property and the people.
Miss Graham’s Cold War Cookbook is an engaging story about betrayal, friendship and courage and the horrors of war.

Set in post-war Germany, this atmospheric story vividly explores the time period and involves a rush, time is precious, to uncover a network of spies and war criminals. And this involves a young British woman who fits a profile of being single, ordinary looking and with a college degree in German – a perfect material for a spy.

London, 1945. Edith is a provincial schoolteacher and craves something more. Her friend Leo encourages her to apply for a position, which would involve her knowledge of German language to set up schools in Germany and have them running. But as it turns out this is just one part. She also gets recruited to be an agent, hunting down Nazis to bring them to justice. With her friend Dori, they need to come up with a code to send intercepted messages once she is in Germany.

Dori is a spy. How did this happen? She is Hungarian who lived in Poland and fell in love with a British Flying Officer. When Germans robbed her of her adopted homeland, she wanted revenge.

Edith has been also making extra money from her recipes, writing cookery tips as Stella Shelling. “Edith enjoyed cooking and liked to think of ways to make the ration go further.” One day, Edith comes across a used copy of Radiation Cookery Book, a one that Dori has as well. She buys it as a light bulb goes on. They will use a code based on recipes, using words from recipes and coding them as they practiced. Everyone one is obsessed with cooking and how to stretch rations. They shouldn’t raise any suspicion.

Through her friend Leo, Edith met Count Kurt von Stavenow. For some time, he was the love of her life. However, under the cover of his interest in history, he fooled them both. As it has just turned out, he was also a Nazi. Equipped with this knowledge, Edith is off to Germany.

Within the first few pages, these incredible women reveal how interesting they are. They know what they want and they go after it. It’s not just words, it’s action that counts. They are dependable. If they sign up for something, they feel the obligation to finish the job. Not afraid to do what is right.

This atmospheric story brings a vivid portrayal of a post-war country: shifting borders, misplaced people, devastation – more rubble than standing buildings in some places, challenge to find a living space, shortages of all kinds – lack of food, medicine, heating, warm clothes leading to malnutrition, TB and pneumonia. As the search for war criminals progresses, the story also reveals scientific research done by the Nazi. You can also feel the rush against the time to catch the Nazis and disappearing documents. You can sense hopelessness. As it turns out setting up a school might be easy, but running it is a challenge. The kids need shoes in order to walk to school during the winter time. They also need food in order to be able to focus on learning and not hungry bellies.

This captivating story is beautifully detailed, providing a sense of place and history, with characters that we care deeply about and do not want to part from.

Well written and with good character development. Fictional story set against the backdrop of post WWII when the US, UK, and USSR are all vying to capture German war criminals. Only to punish a few, but to let the ones they feel are “valuable” escape and To provide new lives for them. This is the second book I have read recently that explores the US secret program “Paperclip” that garnered not only rocket scientists but also medical doctors and researchers. Even the ones, especially the ones, that committed atrocities. Edith Graham volunteers for a position with the English corps that provide education to the children of vanquished cities but is soon involved in spying and conniving for the forces that want to allow the war criminals to escape and those that want them brought to justice.

What a marvelous book!

At the end of WWII, Britain is overseeing its occupation zones in Germany, hiring citizens to work there to rebuild and prosecute war crimes. Edith Graham, a school teacher who is bored and tired of living with her overbearing mother, is eager to sign on. She's recruited as a spy to hunt down one such criminal: Kurt von Stavenow, with whom she had a close relationship before the war.

This book was fascinating. I was immediately drawn by the premise--I love everything about the WWII and post war period and Edith's alter ego, Stella Snelling, a cook book author hiding intelligence reports among her recipes, was spot on. Celia Rees is also a remarkable writer--her world is fully realized with lush prose that keeps you reading as much as the plot itself. I'd not read any of her books before and this was a wonderful introduction. I'll be sure to seek out more from her in the future.

Thank you to William Morrow Books through their Book Club Girls group, and NetGalley for providing this ARC to review.