It’s 1942 in a small village just south of London and the BBC hosts a cooking competition with the contestants required to get creative with their rations. These four women contestants move from extreme caution with each other to friendship to family as the competition moves through each course toward a winner. Excellent storytelling and fully realized female characters bring the time period and setting fully to life.

I really enjoyed reading this book. I’d never thought of viewing life during WW2 from this perspective. I can see a lot of parallels between the rationing they had to go through during that period of time and the hunger many people are experiencing today. Fascinating approach.

The Kitchen Front is a wonderful work of WWII historical fiction. I don’t usually read books set in this period (they make me sad), but I enjoyed this food-centric perspective a lot!

Four women enter a cooking competition to bring hope and creativity to a ration-weary British public: Audrey, a grieving war widow frantically running a baking business out of her crumbling home; Gwendoline, a haughty Lady trying to prove herself; Nell, a timid cook toiling in the downstairs of Lady Gwendoline’s estate, and Zelda, a talented chef determined to hide her scandalous pregnancy. The four start as rivals, but the challenges they face together bring them closer than they could’ve imagined.

4.25/5: A very solid work of historical fiction that includes real wartime recipes and an array of strong, complex women. I think book clubs would love this, as well as longtime fans of WWII stories and those that don’t usually read them!

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Four women in war time Britain enter a cooking contest. How creative and resourceful can they be within the limits imposed by the strict food rationing of the time.? Turns out they can be pretty resourceful. This is a story of women’s friendship and support for each other. I loved that no men swept in to help them, they helped themselves. Also, the prize they pursued was a job and validation of their skills not a romance.

Thank you so much for the opportunity to read this book. I'll be posting my review on Goodreads and Amazon

This is the third book that I have read by Jennifer Ryan. I very much enjoyed her earlier novels, The Chilbury Ladies Choir and The Spies of Shilling Lane. Ms.Ryan has found her authorial voice writing fiction about women and WWII. The Kitchen Front, also set during WWII, is a book that I highly recommend.

As the novel begins, the men are mostly away or involved in war work, while women try their best to manage both on the home front and in the kitchen. Food is scarce and rationing pervasive. There is a campaign to make creative, practical recipes using what is at hand.

In this story, food concerns lead to a cooking contest in a small village. The winner will be given co-hosting duties on a food related BBC radio show. The novel tells the story of four of the women who, through their recipes, try to win first prize. They are Audrey, a young widow with three children; Audrey’s sister, the snobby Lady Gwendoline; kitchen maid Nell and pregnant, unmarried, French trained chef, Zelda. Each of these characters comes to life with a backstory and relationships. I very much enjoyed spending time with each of them and also enjoyed the village setting. An added plus of this book is that each cook’s recipes are included, giving insight into what cooking was like in the 1940s.

I highly recommend this enjoyable novel. For Ms. Ryan, third time (for her historical novels) is definitely the charm!

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this title. All opinions are my own.

THE KITCHEN FRONT
BY JENNIFER RYAN

I took a chance on this one as I have been doing lately with not very good luck but this book was a winner for me worthy of its five star rating. It did take me a little time to warm up to this historical fiction novel about creating a family out of the friendships we form that grow and the food rationing that took place during World War II in Great Britain.

The book begins in 1942 with Audrey who lives in a rural village with her three son's after she has become a widow. Her husband's airplane was shot down in Germany. Audrey has inherited her childhood home which is a mansion with some of the room's missing a roof. Her dead husband Mathew was not a high earner before the war because he was an artist. This caused them to remortgage the house and Audrey is swimming in debt. To make matters worse the way she has been earning money is by selling pies and cakes to the Women's Volunteer Service and whoever will buy them.

Gwendoline is Audrey's younger sister by two year's who holds a grudge against Audrey because their parents favored Audrey. Their parents are not living and Gwendoline has married a rich man who lives nearby. Gwendoline doesn't start out to be a nice person but she does evolve.

Nell grew up poor and works as a kitchen helper to Gwendoline and her husband's cook named Mrs. Quince. Mrs. Quince takes Nell under her wing and teaches her how to cook. There is plenty of food for Gwendoline and her husband because they get some of the hard to come by food on the Black Market.

Stella is unmarried and pregnant and gets conscripted by the military to move in with Audrey. Audrey isn't too happy about it at first even as kind as she is. Stella has trained in cooking and wants to become a Chef in London after she gives birth. She is hiding her pregnancy and plans to put up her baby for adoption so she can achieve her dream.

In Great Britain there was food rationing that went on for several years after the war was over. The Kitchen Front is both a real and in this novel all four women join this contest all trying to win the prize. It has to do with making three meals and using substitute ingredients of foods that are scarce or impossible to come by except the food that are part of these recipes can't be obtained by the Black Market. The contest is being held by the BBC. These four women each have to use their imaginations or resources to come up with the tastiest recipes and the winner is the one that scores the highest points. The Kitchen Front was really a factual radio program with ideas on how to cook food that tasted good for the folks in Great Britain who were trying to cook without rare or hard to come by foods that would stretch a recipe to include more servings and that tasted good. The recipes are included in the book along with the instructions and I found them hard to eat if it was me. Some of them sounded good and now I am off to make chocolate chip cookies from scratch. This was really an interesting and heartwarming story which was a pleasure to read. It is unique and in a class all by itself and yet another little known facet of World War II.

Publication Date: February 23, 2021

Thank you to Net Galley, Jennifer Ryan and Random House Publishing Group-Ballantine for providing me with my ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review. All opinions are my own.

#TheKitchenFront #JenniferRyan #RandomHousePublishingGroup-Ballantine #NetGalley

It's 1942, and Audrey, whose husband has been killed in the war, is struggling. She has three growing sons, a house that needs repairs, and a huge mortgage held by her snobby sister. She does her best selling pies, but sees opportunity when the BBC programme Kitchen Front sponsors a cooking contest, the prize being co-presenter with Ambrose, its current hos, on the show. Her competitors are Zelda, a chef from London who is trying desperately to conceal her (unwed) pregnancy, Nell, a kitchen maid, and Audrey's aforementioned sister Gwendoline. Each has her own reasons for wanting to win, but an action of Gwendoline's changes everything. Recommended for fans of historical fiction, cooking, and female friendships. Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the ARC.

I received this from Netgalley.com.

Set during WW2, four women compete for a spot hosting a wartime cookery program called The Kitchen Front - based on the actual BBC program of the same name.

An okay read with more of a cozy genre feel to it. There was a lot of foody talk with recipes included.

3☆

I received an advance copy via NetGalley.

This book is essentially the Great British Bake Off against the tumultuous backdrop of World War II. Despite the deaths and darkness lurking just off scene, this is an incredibly heartwarming, affirming read (not unlike GBBO as a show) about the bonds of sisterhood and found-families. I blazed through in a little over a day. Yes, the book is corny in some ways. Yes, the ending is so perfect it feels contrived. But you know what? The end of 2020 calls for fuzzy, cozy books like this.

<i>The Kitchen Front</i> follows four very different women: a widowed mother trying to scrape by with her gardening and pies; her estranged sister, a 'Lady' by marriage whose snobbery masks painful secrets; an orphaned young woman with a terrible stammer and bright dreams; and a Cordon Bleu-trained chef hiding her pregnancy but not her bitterness toward a cruel man's world.

These four women become competitors in a cooking contest to become co-host of a BBC radio programme to help housewives use their rations and support the war effort. The characterizations are fun--it's an expected ensemble cast--and the author's research in the setting is incredible. As a foodie and passionate home baker, I loved finding out more about how rations worked (and didn't work) during the war. The author has included authentic recipes throughout as well, though I don't think I'm daring enough to try them--though it is quite something to discover the ins and outs of cooking with whale steak!

Really, this book is corny, fun, and enlightening, a read I highly recommend for lovers of historical fiction and food history.

Jennifer Ryan has written another touching novel set in England during WWll. The story centers around a BBC radio cooking show, called the Kitchen Front, who holds a cooking competition and the four women who compete. I found it very interesting learning about rationing during the war.Much was written about the substitution of hard to get foods that were rationed.
While the book is about food and cooking, the story of the four women and how they become friends is what grabs at the heart. The women begin as competitors but circumstances lead to friendships that grow throughout.
2020 is certainly a time to read about optimism where there is "triumph over adversity". I was cheering for all four of the women, especially during the last third of the book.
Thanks to NetGalley, Random House Ballentine books and Jennifer Ryan for the opportunity to readcand review this book. It releases on February 23, 2021

Trigger warnings:
Abuse, both mental and physical.
Death
Depression

As the book's synopsis says -this is a book set in England during the second year of WWII. Even in the country, conditions are frightening. Food rationing, among other things, is making things difficult for nearly everyone. (note that I said "nearly everyone"!)

Four vastly different women, two of them sisters, enter a contest for a radio show. These ladies need to prove that they can cook and help housewives make nutritious and delicious meals out of the meager rations they are allowed and what they can forage.

This is a heartwarming novel of how the women adapt and become friends and then family. This book can be a bit depressing and even infuriating at times, but it all works out for everyone in the end.

This was an emotional read for me; I found myself sorrowful and depressed at times and crying at others. But all this quickly changed as the idea of 'girl power' took over. However, I am so glad that I read this as it gave me an excellent view of what life was like for England's housewives at this time. I was also able to get a lot of great recipes since this book is filled with them. I am still making recipes that I got from my grandmother that she used during the USA's rationing!

*ARC supplied by the publisher, NetGalley, and the author

This book was like a warm hug. Can we talk about the beautiful cover? I love the design and it captures the simplicity of the time.

The Kitchen Front by Jennifer Ryan is about four women competing for a spot on a cooking show during World War II. It’s also about friendship and strength during tough times and is such a wonderful reading journey. The story itself is just entertaining and pleasant. A lovely change of pace from the darker books I read.

Synopsis:

Two years into WW2, Britain is feeling her losses; the Nazis have won battles, the Blitz has destroyed cities, and U-boats have cut off the supply of food. In an effort to help housewives with food rationing, a BBC radio program called The Kitchen Front is putting on a cooking contest–and the grand prize is a job as the program’s first-ever female co-host. For four very different women, winning the contest presents a crucial chance to change their lives.

For a young widow, it’s a chance to pay off her husband’s debts and keep a roof over her children’s heads. For a kitchen maid, it’s a chance to leave servitude and find freedom. For the lady of the manor, it’s a chance to escape her wealthy husband’s increasingly hostile behavior. And for a trained chef, it’s a chance to challenge the men at the top of her profession.

These four women are giving the competition their all–even if that sometimes means bending the rules. But with so much at stake, will the contest that aims to bring the community together serve only to break it apart?

A must-read for those who love historical fiction and bonus, recipes from the 1940s.

Coming on Feb 23.

The Kitchen Front is absolutely delightful. I love the premise of the story and the varying characters. I loved some characters, despised others!
Th first novel in a while I was 100% satisfied with the ending. Thank you NetGalley.

A sort of Great British Bake Off meets the home front in this novel. Four women with differing circumstances have a few things in common: they’re all damn good cooks, and each of them would vastly benefit from winning The Kitchen Front’s ration-based cooking competition and the grand prize of becoming a presenter on the BBC radio show. This was more like a 3.5 but I’m rounding up because I was drawn into the time period and how creative people had to be to make their rations last. It’s impressive to think about especially in our current situation where the simple act of wearing a mask and social distancing is a sacrifice too many have politicized.

When desperate times get you down you wonder how you will continue. Audrey, a recent widow, lives in a falling down mansion with her three sons. War time rations make life difficult and how will she survive. She believes she is self sufficient but soon learns the value of friendship. A delightful book based upon how women survived and made delicious food with war time recipes.

I’m not much of a historical fiction reader, but I absolutely loved THE KTICHEN FRONT! I instantly fell for these four women—each so different but so compelling that I had a hard time deciding who I wanted to win the contest (though I think Aubrey and Nell were always in the lead as my favorites). Their strength, ingenuity, and determination endeared them all to me. Reading this book felt like sitting at their kitchen tables, watching them scrap together beautiful meals and hearing about their life stories. It was such a cozy, fun reading experience despite the WW2 time period.

Naturally this book reminded me a lot of THE GUERNSEY LITERARY AND POTATO PEEL PIE society, a perennial favorite of mine. But it also had hints of Downton Abbey—Nell and Mrs. Quince had a real Daisy and Mrs. Patmore energy if you ask me! And in a way it also reminded me of the Great British Baking Show in terms of the friendly competition.

All that to say, I so enjoyed this book!

Jennifer Ryan’s The Kitchen Front is a tremendous, uplifting read. Set in England, during WWII, it depicts the care, thriftiness, and innovation of women who had to produce, procure, and prepare countless meals in the midst of strict rationing. I marveled at the ingenuity of the recipes, which are included. I loved the characters in the story. Four women who began as adversaries, but created camaraderie instead of hardship. I loved seeing the friendships develop among the women. Character development happens with all four women and it was delightful to read. The cover is excellent and begs readers to open it and dive in.

Such a great read! If you love WWII Historical Fixtion, I highly recommend. I cannot gone what the people went through during the war.. so many were heroes. Among them, women in the kitchen. This was so interesting to me!!! Love the recipes embedded in the story.

The Kitchen Front follows the story of 4 very different women set in WWII. One is a society wife and patriarch. Another is an orphan, the third is widowed mother and the fourth is a pregnant, single woman who is a trained chef. Each woman enters a cooking contest, where the winner will be the co host of a radio show on the BBC called "The Kitchen Front." As the women compete against each other, life and circumstances change their competitive drive with each other into a story of 4 women who learn to lean on each other to survive. They find their strength lies in each other.

I adored this story. I thought it was such a fun and delightful spin on the typical WWII book. While there was some serious undertone to the story, the bright spot was the story of their friendship and reliance on each other during dark times.

Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion and review.