The Kitchen Front is based during WW2 and it tells the story of four women and the radio show called The Kitchen Front. Jennifer Ryan tells a wonderful story involving four women, each with their own problems. Gwendolyn, her sister Audrey, a pregnant chef named Zelda and a kitchen maid named Nell. Each of these women face a crisis that leads them all to think that a contest the BBC is running for The Kitchen Front, will solve all of their problems.

Jennifer Ryan tells an amazing story! Each woman has a crisis of sorts, and they all wind up becoming friends, not just competitors. This book touched my heart in so many ways, especially Nell and her crisis. She loses someone close to her and Audrey gives her lots of support and this advice...
" It takes a long time to get over someone. At first, it's like your world has stopped turning, like everything has gone into black and white and all that matters is that they have gone. But slowly, the unstoppable scream of pain becomes a howl, and then it becomes a cry, then a moan. I know it doesn't feel like it, but a new life will begin to fill in the gaps."
This was exactly how I felt when my mom passed away when I was 19. Like my world was off its axis and I couldn't understand how the world kept on turning. And then the person who Nell loses leaves her a recipe book, and I think my heart just exploded. I have all of my mom's cookbooks, and knowing that a part of her is with me helps so much.

So as you can see this book was not just a wonderfully told story but so much more. I absolutely love a book that touches your heart and this was that book for me!

Thank you to Netgalley, Random House, Ballantine Books and Jennifer Ryan for the eARC of this book in exchange for my honest review

Having gotten a bit tired of WWII historical fiction, this book was a breath of fresh air! Four women in very different situations come together to compete in a contest to determine who will co-anchor a British cooking show. I really enjoyed reading about their different experiences and how their friendships eventually developed. Throughout the book, little intermissions are provided to include recipes for the items each woman makes for the various portions of the competition. Anyone who wants to learn about cooking in the time of rations would be highly amused by some of the creative ways these women are able to provide for their families. But the best part of the book was each woman's journey and how they individually dealt with their own personal struggles.

The Kitchen Front is about 4 women living in Britain during WWII. They do not know each other until they become contestants in a cooking contest. How resilient and courageous they had to be during the rationing of food to make sure their families were being fed.
The winner of the contest will become the first ever female radio host.....how desperate are they to be the winner? Will they bond and become friends? Whose 3 course meal using rationed items will win?
Loved the inclusion of recipes from this era.
Heartwarming and heartfelt story.
Thank you to NetGallery, the publisher and author for the opportunity to read this book for my honest opinion. All opinions expressed are my own.

This was a unique entry into the WWII historical fiction retinue! What made it so fun and different was the focus on wartime cooking. Four ladies from Fenley, a small town outside of London, enter a contest to become a radio personality for BBC's wartime broadcast to help people cook with rations. They are various levels of professional chef (a contest rule) from a mother who started her own pie business to make ends meet to a haute couture chef recently displaced from London. All needing this contest to help advance their lives in some way, the four are staunch competitors but as the novel progresses, bonds form and new relationships bloom.

What Jennifer Ryan does so beautifully in all her books are female friendships and dynamics within groups of women. The set she's collected for <i>The Kitchen Front</i> are fun and inspirational and you find yourself rooting for all of them to win by the end. While the language and fluffiness got a little hokey (lots of broad statements on love and loss and self) at the end, the overall message and feeling of togetherness really shines. I enjoyed the inclusion of wartime recipes and the discussion of rations; it was interesting to see how each women dealt with shortages and how it overall affected the food. I also loved Ryan's personal connection with her grandmother who always used to talk about her own wartime rationing.

Overall, this book surprised me with how it was able to add to the milieu of WWII books set in England. Though a bit cheesy, it felt new and different and I was smiling by the end. It's perfect for historical fiction lovers and book clubs alike.

THE KITCHEN FRONT is another terrific historical fiction novel by Jennifer Ryan (The Spies of Shilling Lane; The Chilbury Ladies' Choir). The story is set in rural England and focuses on four women, two of whom are sisters, all of whom are trying to change their lives. A BBC-sponsored cooking contest in the midst of WWII rationing offers an opportunity for newly widowed Audrey who wants to be able to provide a more stable life for her three boys; for Gwendoline who craves approval especially from her rich, but abusive husband; for pregnant Zelda who seeks recognition as a professional chef; and for kitchen maid Nell who is just starting her adult life. Yes, there is sadness and jealousy, but also resourcefulness, perseverance, and true friendship. Overall, reading this book (a February2021 LibraryReads selection) will give you a warm feeling – it's about overcoming hardship and learning to rely on each other, complete with recipes. Booklist calls THE KITCHEN FRONT "as soothing as a warm cup of Earl Grey" and "perfect for fans of The Great British Baking Show." I totally agree – Enjoy!!

The Kitchen Front is a heartwarming story of four seemingly disparate women, living in a small village during WWII. Audrey Landon, a war widow, trying to make ends meet and raise her three sons; her sister Gwendoline who seems to have the perfect life and marriage, but is hiding a terrible secret; Nell Brown, an orphaned kitchen maid, dreaming of a different life; and Zelda Dupont, an unmarried, pregnant chef, struggling to achieve her goal of becoming a London chef despite the male-dominated, sexist world of London restaurants.

All four enter a cooking contest put on by the BBC program Kitchen Front, which served to provide Great Britain’s housewives with recipes and tips to help them deal with the massive food shortages the country experienced during the war. For the contest, each woman must make creative, nutritious, and delicious dishes using only rationed foods and what is readily available from local gardens and farms.

Before the contest is finished, Audrey, Gwendoline, Nell, and Zelda find themselves more friends than competitors. Each becoming aware of what the others are facing and finding that they are better together than apart.

This was a joy to read, with wonderful female characters and a very real sense of life in war-torn Britain. An uplifting story (with some delightful recipes thrown in) and a truly satisfying ending. This will appeal to fans of historical fiction, women’s fiction as well as those who love cooking contests (especially The Great British Baking Show). Bake yourself some scones, brew a pot of tea and curl up for an enjoyable escape.

The Kitchen Front is the first book I have read by Jennifer Ryan but it won't be the last! Set in England during the time of World War II four women compete in a cooking contest showing inventive ways of cooking with the food your family receives in times of rationing. The winner will be a co-host on the very popular radio show called The Kitchen Front. This novel has strong women characters with very different backgrounds and personalities. I really enjoyed it and would recommend it to anyone who likes historical fiction, cooking and books about female friendships.

The BBC radio program The Kitchen Front was a staple during WWII. Of course, it was hosted by a man who had never cooked anything in his life. In Fenley Village, readers get to look at the local women cope with shortages and feed their families. When its finally decided that a female host as well as the male host, a local contest is created to find that voice. Readers enter the lives of the four contestants. First there is Mrs. Audrey Landon, a recent widow, who makes ends meet by selling her baked goods. The most regal of the contestants is Lady Gwendoline Stricklnand and is used to having kitchen staff. But adding to the competition is Lady Gwendoline’s cook and Mrs. Quince’s assistant, Nell Brown. And then there’s contestant number four who brings a background of training at Cordon-Bleu and has been a chef at a famous London hotel. Recipes are included for cooking in 1942.

Enormously warm and engaging tale of women on the Homefront during WWII, stuck trying to make ends meet while suffering all manner of misfortune unrelated to the war. England during WWII may have been all-in on defeating the enemy but it was also still filled with discriminatory practices that kept qualified women from good jobs and supported a patriarchal society. Into this mix, author Jennifer Ryan tells a tale of a radio competition for recipes and cooking among four women who have competed for so long that friendship seems unlikely. While it’s clear that will change during the story, it is a well done journey and both tears and smiles, in equal measure, accompany the text. This is a winner. I received my copy from the publisher through NetGalley.

This is a wonderful book which feels like a World War II based combination of Downton Abbey and the Great British Baking Show. In Fenley Village, England, 1942, Ambrose Hart is reluctantly looking for a radio cohost. His bosses have decided they want a local woman who can help listeners find the best uses for their food rations. A cooking contest begins, and the winner will be Ambrose’s co-host on The Kitchen Front radio show. The four contestants are Audrey, who is trying to raise three sons and wallowing in a mountain of debt, Nell, a kitchen maid who is tired of her poor treatment, Lady Gwendoline Strickland, the haughty grand lady of the manor, who is both Nell’s boss and Audrey’s sister, and Zelda Dupont, an English girl turned London-based French chef who has been forced to cook in a British factory and is not happy about it. As the show progresses, each woman's life begins to change forever.

I immediately connected with the characters and the story. The “upstairs/downstairs,”“Downton Abbey” type relationship is demonstrated by Lady Gwendoline, Sir Strickland, and their cooks and other staff. The radio show cooking contest reminds me of a World War II radio version of the Great British Baking Show. For the contest, each contestant has to provide a starter, a main dish, and a dessert, all on different episodes of the show. All of the recipes for the contest, plus others mentioned in the story, are included in the book. We are given a window into each contestant’s life, both before and during the contest. Audrey is a grieving war widow. Gwendoline is a neglected wife of a strict and domineering nobleman. Zelda is pregnant and abandoned by the child’s father, and Nell is a young girl who wants to get out of the bonds of service. Interesting tidbits about food and history are included, such as why British sausages are called “bangers,” and how some villagers would run to “Anderson shelters,” to escape the bombings. We even get a little education on World War II era planes. I enjoyed every minute of this book, read it in one day, and will read it again.

If you love cooking and cooking shows, World War II fiction, and strong female characters, you will enjoy this book.

The Kitchen Front will be released on February 23, 2021. I highly recommend it.

I received a free copy of this book from Random House Publishing Group via Netgalley. My review is voluntary.

The Kitchen Front follows four women in an English village during WWII. They are brought together to compete in a radio cooking contest, where they are challenged to come up with the best three-course meal using available and rationed ingredients to inspire others throughout England. The winner will co-host The Kitchen Front radio show. This is a great cast of characters, those you naturally root for and those you will love to hate. I love a historical fiction novel that teaches me more about the life and times of women during that specific time, which this book definitely does. It is obvious that Jennifer Ryan did her research while writing this feel-good book. Her writing about the women is heartfelt and her writing about the recipes and the cooking brings the food to life. This is the first novel by Jennifer Ryan I have read, but it certainly will not be my last.

I found this to be such a lovely book, almost a balm to read during this difficult pandemic. Based on actual events, this story is about 4 women in a small town in Britain during WWII. They each have faced challenges and are trying to be cooks during food rationing. They enter a contest held by the BBC and end up becoming dear friends. The book is uplifting and hopeful, about friendship and overcoming adversity during tough times.

It's been two years since the war started, and Britain is feeling the impact – frequent air raids, deaths of family members, food rationing and more. A BBC radio program aimed at helping cooks deal with the food rations has decided to run a competition, where the grand prize is the job of the show's first-ever female co-host. Four women from very different walks of life enter the competition, and each wants to win for very different reasons.

I loved this author's "The Chilbury Ladies' Choir," and was excited to read this book. Fortunately, it did not disappoint, as she does a very good job at showing the reader what life was like on the home front at this time – and making me glad I was not in her characters' shoes! As I'm sure the author intended, some of the characters were likable and others not so much. As we got to know the characters over the course of the story, it was hard to choose one woman to root for in the competition, so I was glad to see them all come together by the end of the book. I look forward to reading more of Ms. Ryan's books.

This book provides insight into just how resilient women are in times of war, particularly focused on England during WW2. They had to be creative during rationing, and still feed their hungry families, they had to reinvent their social networks (before social media!), and they had to go outside their comfort zones to make sure their families had what they needed to survive.

It is easy to see that much research went into this book, including surfacing old recipes that used ingredients that weren't rationed. I grew to appreciate the women left behind even more after reading this book.

Thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book, but my opinions are my own.

This is a sweet book that takes place outside London in the 30's. Four women who lead vastly different lives come together for a BBC cooking contest in food-rationing times. Each chapter alternates between the women and ends with a recipe. Not that I would make whale steaks or wood pigeon.
Thank you NetGalley and Jennifer Ryan for the ARC.

The Kitchen Front, by Jennifer Ryan is a World War II story of friendship, cooking, and community. Four women of different places in society compete in a cooking contest to host a wartime radio show, The Kitchen Front. With the telling of each of the four women's lives, they find they have more in common than they think- especially the War, their survival and their need for each other. Through the process of the cooking contest, they find they need each other and become close friends. Their separate work results in their combined work in opening a restaurant. This feel good story would be great for those interested in Historical Fiction and cooking.

I really liked that we got to see the recipes (I may even try some haha). The book follows 4 women in a food competition during WWII in England trying to get a spot in a famous radio cooking show. I really loved the setup for the story and the idea of the cooking contest. Unfortunately, the book relies heavily on the characters - I felt that you had to like them in order to like the story - and I really couldn't care less to what happened to 3 of them.
I also felt the book relied too heavily on some clichés and I felt the dialogue was a bit forced; it didn't feel like real people talking.
I did, however, really like when the characters were focusing on creating the recipes for the cooking contest. If the book had more moments like these it would be a success for me.
I see that I'm in a minority, so it could be that this book is just not for me. I did get hungry though reading the recipes haha.

Thanks for the publisher, Netgalley, and the author for the e-ARC.

Cute story set during World War II in England. Four very different women compete for a spot on a BBC radio cooking program. There are lovable characters, and loathable characters. The book alternates between the women's woes, which helps move the story along. Enjoyable and well done. I liked the authentic ration recipes between chapters. Thanks to Penguin Random House and NetGalley for the ARC.

This is a lovely novel about sisterhood- both sisters in blood and sisters in heart. It's WWII England and four women- Audrey, Gwendoline, Zelda, and Nell- find themselves competing for a slot as the cohost of a food program on the BBC. Audrey, a widow, is barely keeping her head above water and her three boys fed while her estranged sister Gwendoline is living a more rarified existence as a Lady. Nell works as a kitchen maid at Gwendoline's house and Zelda, a single pregnant woman, works as a canteen chef at a pie factory owned by Gwendoline's husband but she's really a talented chef. While the four women start out as competitors, it turns out that they need one another more than they can imagine. Gwendoline has a secret, Nell's got a love interest, Zelda's trying hard to move up in the world, and Audrey, well she's just trying to cope. I liked this for the spirit of the women and, I have to admit, for the recipes, some of which are disgusting (a sheep head!) and some of which look wonderful (apple and honey cake). Ryan's a great storyteller and she sweeps you into the time period (Audrey notes how the lack of soap etc has changed everyone's perspective about clean clothes). You're going to root for these women, who are all relatable. It's emotional in spots because it's got a big heart. Thanks to netgalley for the ARC. Ryan's written another winner that I thoroughly enjoyed.

Thank you to Ballantine Books and NetGalley for giving me early access to an ARC of The Kitchen Front in exchange for a honest review.

I was a big fan of Jennifer Ryan’s other book, The Chillbury Ladies’ Choir. It’s a great book about female friendship and fortitude during the most difficult times, and The Kitchen Front follows in its footsteps.

There are four main characters in The Kitchen Front vying for the cooking contest prize of being the BBC program’s co-host. There’s Audrey, a mother of three boys who has lost her husband in WWII and has many debts to pay off. There’s Gwendoline, Audrey’s younger sister, who married a rich man but their marriage is loveless and volatile, and she feels like a win will provide her more respect. Zelda, unmarried and pregnant, is a chef who feels a win will open doors for her in the restaurant world, allowing her to become head chef in a top London restaurant. Then there’s Nell, a very shy cook in the mansion Gwendoline’s husband owns, who longs for something more than a life of servitude.

All four ladies have legitimate reasons for wanting to win the Kitchen Front contest. I found myself going back and forth on who I wanted to win more, never being able to commit to one character. I really appreciated how the ladies aren’t perfect. Sometimes, when trying to win the contest, there is scheming and jealousy, and I felt like that was realistic to show women as having shades of gray.

A funny thing happens as the book progresses, though. Who wins the contest starts to matter a lot less. It’s the blossoming friendships that begin to take center stage. It is Nell’s shyness transitioning to confidence, Gwendoline finding and putting to use talents no one ever expected her to have, Audrey and Zelda finding happiness and strength with a family not initially their first choice, that begins to matter. Jennifer Ryan handles all the threads with care. I found myself crying more than once and smiling largely by the end.

On a side note, as an Italian-American, I really appreciate that an Italian POW character was included. It was an interesting point to include what happened to them during the war.

Also, nice touch to include the recipes between chapters.