I love reading about the experiences of ordinary people during WWII. This was a pleasant story of women and a radio show which really showcased what the citizens of London went through - both the deprivations and the shared solidarity. This is the second book I’ve read by Jennifer Ryan, and although she’s not particularly hard hitting, her books do a nice job of placing the reader in a different time and place.

I enjoy books that feature women in WW2 like Dear Mrs. Bird and Ladies of London. This was an interesting twist on women during the war in England. I love cooking shows and thought this book was a great read.

I"m a big fan of historical fiction, especially stories centered around WWII, but this novel was very unique. I was not aware there was a previous novel by this author, so I plan to read that as well. I loved the focus on the friendship of the group of women, and their resiliency during a terrible time in our history. This novel transported me to a time that is foreign to me, but made me feel right at home and as if I was experiencing life with these women.

In small town England, the war means billeting people you don't know, rationing certain foods and staples, and just finding ways to survive. The BBC Radio program The Kitchen Front holds a contest so a new female co-host. Four women compete and the choice to do so could not have been a better option. Audrey is trying to raise three boys after he husband was killed in the war and she bakes in order to earn enough money to pay her sister back for saving her house. Gwendoline is Audrey's sister and the wife of the local factory and "house" owner. Nell is Gwendoline's kitchen maid and has been making all of the meals at the big house for a while now. Finally you have Zelda, she is a London chef who has been sent to cook at the local factory. They all have their own reasons for competing and needing to win but in the end it is the journey that is most important.

Jennifer Ryan is so good at writing about the women left behind and how they find ways to survive and thrive. Each of these women is so unique and has elements that make you love and root for. This book has competition, love, friendship, survival, and revenge. I highly recommend if you are a historical fiction and women's fiction fan.

Britain in is the midst of the war, the Blitz, and food rationing. The KitchenFront is a BBC radio show to help housewives with their food rationing. The story is about four women who enter the contest with the hope of being a co-presenter on the show. The book follows the competition and lives of the four: a manor lady, a kitchen maid, a widow and a trained chef. The plot has their lives unexpectedly intertwined. No matter who wins the contest, these women have formed a bond, friendship and family. You will love these women and how they support each other. You would think the contest would tear their apart, it rather it brings them together. You will be cheering for each of the women.

In the town of Fenley, four women from very different backgrounds are thrown together for a World War II cooking contest. Lady Gwendoline has the life she's always wanted- lady of the manor. Her sister, Audrey, is a war widow, dependent on selling pies to locals to keep a roof over her family's head. Nell is the kitchen maid in Lady Gwendoline's kitchen. Zelda is an aspiring chef from London, who's been put in charge of the kitchen at the local Fenley factory. I'll be honest- I'm a bit tired of WWII stories, but this one is different. I loved this look into how the war affected one small British town, through air raids, prisoners of war, rationing, black market, etc. I really enjoyed this one and was surprised with how it all played out. Read this one for sure!

Four women compete for a spot on a wartime cooking radio show called The Kitchen Front. I enjoyed getting to know these characters and watching them interact. This is an interesting and unique addition to the WWII historical genre!

My review of this book appears in Historical Novels Review issue 95 (February 2021):
This warm hug of a novel, by the author of The Chilbury Ladies Choir, depicts the power of community in the face of war and deprivation. Set in the same rural region of southeast England in 1942, the story brings together four unlikely allies, widowed baker Audrey, her married-to-money sister Gwendoline, kitchen maid Nell, and ambitious London chef Zelda. These women are all accomplished cooks with painful pasts and compelling reasons to enter a local contest to become a co-presenter on “The Kitchen Front,” a BBC radio show that offers tips and recipes for home cooks struggling to feed their families on the strict wartime rations. The four competitors soon discover that their culinary and class-based rivalries might be more threatening to their happiness than the ravages of war.
Ryan creates four intriguing protagonists, although (as in her first novel) there’s not much to differentiate the voices of each woman. Despite their diverse personalities, they all have similar 21st-century voices, sounding more like contemporary self-help books than like actual 1940s British women. Their various heartaches and dilemmas intersect in ways that seem at times to be driven more by plot needs than by actual character motivation, but a compelling portrait of female community emerges if one can overlook the convenient rom-com plot twists. There are loads of recipes and well-researched details about home food production, which balance out the lack of characterization and the author’s tendency to tell rather than show, but the picture of small-town life she creates is an absorbing, comfortable read.

Long before cooking shows on the Food Network, England enjoyed a BBC program called The Kitchen Front, also the title of the latest novel by Jennifer Ryan. The show is looking for a female hostess, and since the British love nothing better than a good contest, four women compete for the spot.

The challenge promises a much-needed boost in the lives of each of women during World War II: Audrey, a war-widow needs more income to take care of her three children and her falling-down house; her sister Gwendoline, a battered wife who sees the contest as a chance to escape her husband; Nell, Gwendoline’s kitchen maid hopes the contest will help her leave a service position; and Zelda, a single woman with a big secret is also a chef who is desperate to compete with men in her profession.

Not only do the women each have to prepare three amazing dishes to win the contest, but they also must do so with the rationing of some groceries and the unavailability of others. For the winner, the Kitchen Network will be a dream come true, but what will happen to runners-up?

Jennifer Ryan was “a nonfiction book editor, first editing politics and economics at The Economist Books, and then moving on to the BBC, DK, and other publishers, editing books on health, cooking, wine, and history.” She wanted to share her grandmother’s stories about WWII and did so in The Chilbury Ladies' Choir, a bestseller.

My review will be posted on Goodreads starting June 21, 2020.

I would like to thank Random House Publishing Group – Ballantine and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in return for an objective review.

This book is great! Would definitely recommend. Thanks so much to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

I enjoyed Ryan’s historical novel, The Spies of Shilling Lane, and so I was thrilled when Ballantine Books and Net Galley offered me a review copy for this one. It’s for sale now.

The story is set in rural England during World War II. We have four protagonists, all of them women. Audrey Landon is a widow; her husband died in the war, leaving her with two boys to raise on her own. The old family home, which she inherited from her parents, is falling apart, and she has no means to repair it. In some places, the roof has caved in.

The second is Audrey’s sister, “Lady” Gwendoline. Gwen puts herself first at all times, since nobody else ever has. She married for wealth and convenience, and she lords her affluence over her sister and everyone else. But her husband is a cruel man, and her existence is a lonely one despite its material comfort.

Zelda was a top chef in London, but once her pregnancy became visible, she had to get gone. Her landlord calls her a “trollop,” and she knows she can’t stay there now, so she applies for wartime housing. The volunteer in charge of placing her is Lady Gwendoline, who snickers with amusement as she assigns her to live in Audrey’s house.

Nell is a chef’s assistant at Fenley Hall, the prestigious old pile where Lady Gwendoline and Sir Strickland hold court. The chef, Mrs. Quince, has taught her nearly everything she knows, and it’s a good thing, too; the old lady isn’t getting any younger.

All four women enter a cooking contest held by the Ministry of Food, a “wartime cooking challenge” to showcase recipes that use ordinary ingredients and work around rationing. The winner will be the new announcer for The Kitchen Front, a wartime radio program—and this program existed in real life.

As in the last story, Ryan develops her four characters in a way I believe; the most benevolent have flaws, and the most unsympathetic, Lady Gwendoline, is complex and capable of change. It is Gwendoline that is most developed at the end, but all four are dynamic characters.

For a brief while, I used the audio version of this book, which I obtained from my local library. Jasmine Blackborow does a fine job as reader in most regards, but there is a side character that turns up in a couple of emotionally charged scenes, an Italian prisoner of war, and when she voices him, he sounds like Dracula, which ruins the magic. For this reason, I recommend sticking to the printed version.

The first half of this story is almost unputdownable, and for a time I nearly forget my other books. But as the climax approaches, things become predictable, almost formulaic, and the ending is a bit too tidy for my tastes. The scenes toward the end with Mrs. Quince are overwrought. It’s not terrible, but because I am so far in love with the first half, I am disappointed by the denouement. Also, if recipes must be included, as apparently they must, the author should give them character by using the substituted ingredients in the instructions; the more desirable ingredients can be footnoted.

Ultimately I rate The Kitchen Front four stars; five for the first half, three for the second.

I Loved this book. I read it one sitting, staying up until 2am to finish it. Every main character was well written and courageous in their own way. I even plan to try some of the recipes

This character-driven novel was a beautiful depiction of how empowering friendship can be. It was a refreshing change of pace from WWII novels about the resistance, concentration camps, and persecution. I learned a great deal about life on Britain’s home front during the war, especially how creative people had to be to make delicious, nutritious for meals with restrictive food rationing. I did not know that rationing lasted until nine years after the war concluded, can you imagine? The author even included recipes from actual people and historical archives… I don’t plan on making any of them, but it was fascinating to see them, nonetheless. The Kitchen Front was a real BBC program, which made reading about it even more delightful. Using multiple narratives was the perfect way to approach the story, and although the narrator in the audio version didn’t use different voices for each of the four women, she still did a magnificent job. There were a few minor writing issues that were easy to miss if one is listening, but glaring if reading, but they weren’t too troublesome. My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance reader copy in exchange for an honest review. 4.5 stars

THE KITCHEN FRONT by Jennifer Ryan
<You may enjoy this book if you liked:>
*Book: DELICIOUS by Ruth Reichl
*Movie/TV Series: DOWNTON ABBEY

This historical fiction novel was inspired by the original Kitchen Front BBC radio program which aired during WWII, highlighting various ways to still cook flavorful meals despite the war rations in place and nationwide food shortages. Although the show’s main host was a male writer, there were multiple women that guest hosted alongside him and that’s where author Jennifer Ryan stepped in — she chose to center the book around a cooking competition she created to help determine which of 4 women (her main characters in the book) would be selected to be his cohost. However, on top of the foundation of historical references and events, Ryan also chose to layer in core themes of sisterhood and close friendships (particularly friends as close as family).

It was thought provoking to read about a past nation’s rallying response to tragedy, worldwide chaos, and seemingly insurmountable obstacles at that time, when in this current time the world just undertook sudden catastrophe with the COVID-19 pandemic. Did we as a collective react with the same steadfastness, courageous strength, and determined fight on our own epidemic ‘front’? Unfortunately, it thus far may have proved to be a mixed bag — yes, in times of turmoil there are always shining signs and examples of humanity, kindness, and rising to or exceeding expectations. As Mr. Fred Rogers said: “When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me. ‘Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.” In the early days this was particularly evident in the public’s outpouring support for our healthcare heroes with jet flyovers of hospitals and nightly celebratory thank yous with flashing lights and song. However, important to note when thinking of rations like in the book, there was also a free-for-all when it came to cleaning, hygiene, and food supplies. Some overbought and hoarded items like toilet paper while others went without. Grocery store shelves became a mystery as to what they would hold or not hold each shopping trip. And as far as the larger community banding and working together for the common good during strife, unfortunately our nation was painfully divided by racial and political tensions, including struggles to unite uniformly in mask wearing mandates. Many would argue the difficult struggles of last year, but the British wartime rations lasted 14 years well after the war was over! Imagine last year times 14!

Despite Ryan covering a more conservative historical time period, she addressed and uplifted non-traditional families and relationships, whether in regards to ‘parents’ in childrearing or family in the form of friends; as well as women as business leaders and entrepreneurs in addition. The author asserts and hammers home the power, achievements, and joy that can be achieved when working and doing ‘life together’ in smaller numbers like in a friends group or in larger numbers like in a community. Although this particular historical fiction novel doesn’t involve one particular famous historical female figure of note like many others released over the last several years, it’s four protagonists have such different social status levels, personalities, and family backgrounds they encompass and represent so many different women from all walks of life. As executive editor Hilary Teeman said in her editor’s letter of this book: “we are reminded of the indomitable spirit of women who strive for better amid impossible circumstances ... women have always been the ones to rise up, better their communities, and move forward.” Jennifer Ryan is a female writer who celebrates women in her pages, not only creating ‘ordinary’ women doing ‘extraordinary’ things, but showing the difference each woman can make!

Ryan’s THE KITCHEN FRONT gives the modern generation of “Sex and The City” girls a lens to look back through fiction on another formidable foursome of friends during Britain’s WWII. Although times may be different, the powerful strength and impact of women in numbers, especially within their friendship tribes, remains unwaveringly the same.
Penguin Random House #thekitchenfront #JenniferRyan

Jennifer Ryan—the talented author of “The Chilbury Ladies Choir”—is back with another entertaining novel with a World War II setting. As “The Kitchen Front: A Novel” begins, the year is 1942, and German U-boats are cutting off food imports. Brits are being urged to keep calm and carry on by feeding their families using strict rationing rules and doing it without a lot of staples like butter, sugar, cheese, eggs, milk, tea, and meat. The BBC is running a radio program called The Kitchen Front designed to help people make the most of odd ingredients and scarcities, but it is hosted by a man—who is a BBC commentator but NOT a chef, etc. So the BBC decides to add a woman co-host to the program and to choose her through a three part contest. Competitors will cook a starter course, a main course, and a dessert course and will be judged on a point system.

The book is told through the viewpoint of four women who enter the competition hoping to change their lives (really five as one entrant begins as a team of two people): Audrey, a stressed war widow with three children to raise; her estranged sister Lady Gwendoline, who married a rich factory owner; Zelda, an pregnant unmarried, London-trained chef who has been reduced to working at the factory; and Nell, a shy orphaned kitchen maid who enters as a team with the Head Cook of an aristocratic household.

As the book progresses, Ryan does such a wonderful job of developing the four characters, that as a reader one wants them all to win for different reasons. She also beautifully delineates the best and worst that exists in the human character. Recipes are also included. The author did extensive research to get the historical details of this book right which I especially appreciate and shares some of that information at the end of the novel. The book was a fun read and Ryan has produced yet another excellent book.

The book begins with a description of what one adult could receive with a ration book for a week—and that is if those foods were available:

“4 ounces bacon or ham (around 4 rashers of bacon)
Meat to the value of 1 shilling and tuppence (2 pounds mincemeat or 1 pound steaks or joint)
2 ounces cheese (a 2-inch cube)
4 ounces margarine (8 tablespoons) 2 ounces butter (4 tablespoons)
3 pints of milk
8 ounces sugar (1 cup)
2 ounces jam (4 tablespoons)
2 ounces loose leaf tea (makes around 15 to 20 cups)
1 fresh egg (plus 1 packet dried egg powder, making 12 eggs, every month) 3 ounces sweets or candy”

Living off the land—foraging and gardens and livestock—would have been incredibly important.

Here is a taste of the book from the first “voice” featured in the book which is Audrey’s:

“Mrs. Audrey Landon
Willow Lodge, Fenley Village, England
June 1942
A glorious spring morning threw its golden splendor through the tall kitchen window as a whirlwind of boys raced in, shooting at each other in a ramshackle reconstruction of Dunkirk.
“Get out of here!” Audrey whooshed them out with a dishcloth.
The aroma of bubbling berries—raspberries, strawberries, red currants—filled the big old kitchen as a slim woman of forty added a touch of cinnamon, a touch of nutmeg. With a man’s sweater tucked into a man’s trousers, she looked hassled and unkempt, her old boots muddy from the vegetable garden.
The wooden clock on the wall chimed the half hour, and she wiped the back of her hand on her forehead. “Oh nonsense! Is it half past eight already?”
She strode to the kitchen dresser to turn up the crackling wireless radio, which sat among a jumble of pots and a pile of freshly pulled carrots. While most people kept their radio sets in the living room, Audrey had hauled hers into the kitchen when she began furiously baking to make a few extra shillings—that had been just after the war began two years ago, when her husband Matthew’s plane was shot down over Düsseldorf.
No trace of him was ever found. In various moments, she tried to stop herself picturing his body—so intimate and dear to her—broken on treetops or burned by an engine fire, his lifeblood spilled over the enemy’s seventh-largest city.
Ever since his death, she had been run off her feet.
Audrey had long given up trying to be like a normal person. Every spare moment was given over to baking, anything to make extra pennies, and she often worked long into the night. With three needy boys, debt demands coming weekly, and an old mansion house falling apart around her, normality had flown out the dusty windows years ago. And that didn’t even take into consideration the pig and the hens, her sizable garden now given over to fruits and vegetables, the precious extra ingredients that made her pies and cakes.
Exhaustion, disillusionment, and that panicky feeling that everything was running out of control had set up home in her heart.
For the sake of the children, she worked hard to keep her anguish at bay, hugging them through their grief while thrusting her own down into her belly until the middle of the night.
It was deemed bad spirit to show tears—Mr. Churchill had drummed that into them: Collective despair could bring the nation to its knees.“

Thank you Ballantine Books and NetGalley for the Advanced Reader’s Copy of this delightful book and for allowing me to review it. (Publication date: (23 February 2021)

The Kitchen Front is set in a small village in England during World War II. The BBC radio show The Kitchen Front is sponsoring a cooking contest to find a wonderful real life cook who can cohost their cooking show. Four local women enter the competition: Audrey, a war widow with three young sons; Gwendoline, Audrey's sister, trapped in an abusive marriage; Nell, the kitchen maid at Gwendoline's estate; and Zelda, a Cordon Bleu trained chef who is pregnant and unmarried.

I wanted to read The Kitchen Front because The Chilbury Ladies' Choir by Jennifer Ryan is my all time favorite historical novel. I absolutely love 1940's settings and enjoy the author's ability to capture a little village so brilliantly. I also love cooking and food history, so this novel had special appeal.

The competition itself is fascinating. The rules are rigorous:

“Without more ado, I wish to set out the rules. There will be three rounds of the competition: Round One a starter, Round Two a main course , and Round Three a dessert, pudding, or cake. Each person may use only their own rations and should strive to keep the cost down. She should speak coherently about each dish, as if she were presenting on The Kitchen Front. Extra points will be given for the ingenious use of the rations.” (ebook location 749).

The details of rationing and wartime food history were especially of interest. I was impressed by the ingenuity of the women as they created dishes with very little. As a bonus, recipes for many of these dishes were included in the book, interspersed between chapters.

I found the story of these disparate women, struggling and eventually finding strength in friendship and courage to overcome, inspiring and really a perfect tale for this difficult time.

I cannot recommend The Kitchen Front highly enough. I am an avid reader (especially historical fiction) and it has been my favorite read this year. I especially recommend this book for fans of foodie fiction and food history.

I desperately needed a good read and The Kitchen Front was perfect. Brilliant, excellent prose. A perfect book group discussion book. I will be purchasing for the library's collection and likely in a set of 12 for a book kit.

Historical Fiction is one of my favorite genres to read and it is done so well in this book. I especially love the WW2 era and I thought this book offered a unique perspective that I haven’t read before. The friendships were top tier and I loved reading about aspects like the cooking competition that I had never thought of before.

I have mixed feelings about this book. It took me SO long to get into, and I put it down a few times to take a break for a day or two. The last 30 percent was really good, though, and I tore through it. It turned out to be a good novel about WWII rationing and friendship. It was a pretty unique plot and I enjoyed the part about the cooking contest, but the overall execution could have been better.

This is a charming historical fiction story set in WW2 London.

Four women from a village outside of London learn of a BBC cooking program promoting a cooking competition to share ways of cooking with rations and making delicious dishes. Food supplies & ingredients are scarce but these four women have the touch to turn scraps into scrumptious. Each woman has a different reason for competing whether it be financial, social status, control or a change in life. The woman begin to learn about each other’s struggles and issues and the winning prize is more than what they expected.

The Kitchen Front is well told and an overall feel-good kind of book. 4 stars!