The Kitchen Front: A Cosy WW2 Cookery Competition, Based On A True Story

Jennifer Ryan

Jan 2022 · Pan Macmillan

About this ebook

From Jennifer Ryan, the bestselling author of The Chilbury Ladies’ Choir, comes an unforgettable story inspired by the true events of a BBC-sponsored wartime cooking competition.

‘The Great British Bake Off set in World War Two . . . an enchanting hug of a novel’ – Cathy Kelly, author of Other Women

‘A gorgeous novel about making the best of things during difficult times, whilst celebrating the importance of sisterhood and friendship’ – Jill Mansell, author of Should I Tell You?

Some wars will be fought at home . . .

Two years into the Second World War, and German U-boats are frequently disrupting Britain’s supply of food. In an effort to help housewives with food rationing, a BBC radio programme called The Kitchen Front launches a new cooking contest – and the grand prize is a job as the programme’s first-ever female co-host.

For young widow Audrey, winning the competition could be a chance to pay off her husband’s debts and keep a roof over her children’s heads. However, her estranged sister, Gwendoline, is equally set on success even if her own kitchen maid, Nell, is competing against her. And then there is Zelda, a London-trained chef desperate to succeed in a male-dominated profession – and harbouring a secret that will change everything . . .

Ratings and reviews

Two and a half stars. Four women compete in a wartime cooking competition, with the winner getting the chance to be the first female presenter of the BBC's radio programme The Kitchen Front. Audrey is a young impoverished widow with three sons, working herself to the bone making pies in order to repay the loan her sister gave her. Lady Gwendoline, Audrey's younger sister who married money and now lords it over the countryside as the wife of black marketeer Sir Reginald. Nell is Gwendoline's kitchen maid, extremely shy she is supposedly helping the cook, Mrs Quince, but in reality it is Nell who does the majority of the cooking these days. Finally Zelda, born in poverty in the East End of London, she worked her way up to sous-chef in some of the grandest restaurants in London until she was called up to be head chef at a meat canning factory owned by Sir Reginald. Each of the women must create a delicious dish, whilst observing rationing, and hopefully utilising some of the food stuffs which were in good supply (like whale meat or powdered eggs). This was very slow going for me. I was over a quarter of the way through the book before it started to pull together, before that point we bounced from one woman to the next, not really building a story or any connection with the women. Audrey was a bit of a drip, Gwendoline was spiteful, Nell was a mouse and Zelda was aggressive and shouty. I was giving the book one last try , determined to get at least one-third of the way through, when suddenly the book came together. Some of the chapters are prefaced by old recipes such as potato peel pie. Unfortunately, in Kindle format they don't really add much, I'd rather have seen a copy of the old government leaflets or newspaper cuttings to give historical heft rather than all the recipes looking the same. Also, they didn't really add to the story, because the chapters described the cooking and preparation (although not in depth) so I would have preferred to have them at the back in an Appendix, maybe with a hyperlink in the ebook, rather than cluttering up the novel. Sadly the biggest issue with this for me was that it read like a text book narrative, you know the way in which school books could take the most exciting and interesting events in history and turn them into dry recitations of facts? Like that. And don't even get me started on the Hallmark style HEA. I suppose this might be successful as a way to introduce some of the privations of war and the misogyny of the era to school children, sort of an interactive experience, but I didn't really enjoy this faction. I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

An interesting story about food rations in World War II and a competition to find a new female presenter for a cookery show on the radio. There were four women involved; Audrey (a widow bring up three boys and trying to keep her large house going with hardly any money), Lady Gwen (Audrey's stuck up sister lording it over everyone), Nell (a cook in Gwen's house) and Zelda (unmarried and pregnant, very pushy and determined). All four women end up in the competition to earn the coveted position of the new female presenter, each wanting it for various reasons. They all end up staying in Audrey's house in the end through various circumstances, and find themselve working through problems and becoming friends, rather than the rivals they started out as. I enjoyed the story more as it went on, so found the second half much better than the first. There was also a lot of recipes detailed, hardly surprising I suppose considering it was about WWII cooking (!), but I did flick over those parts as it didn't really interest me and there was quite a lot of them. Enjoyable story with a satisying ending.

A terrific story set in one of my favourite time periods! As the second world war progresses, there is a dearth of the usual foodstuffs and the Ministry of Food is doing their utmost to entice the nation to use the more unusual – but available – fare. The Kitchen Front is broadcast on BBC radio, hosted by Ambrose but the powers-that-be think a female voice will garner more attention, hence a competition to find someone with the knowledge required to help feed a nation. Four women end up competing for this prized position: a young widow trying to keep body and soul together as well as a roof over the heads of her family whilst paying off her husband’s debts, a female chef tired of competing with men for top jobs, the local lady of the manor who is sick of her husband’s violence and their maid who wants more out of life than being a kitchen drudge. I always enjoy novels concerning the domestic situation during either world war, and this is very much focused on rationing and survival. I’m sure many, like me, will shudder at the thought of eating some of the food mentioned in this book and yet – as my husband just said – if you’re hungry enough, you would eat it. The ingenious ways in which food was made palatable was captivating but there is more to this story than that; the lives of all four women are very different but all entirely believable and a stark reminder that domestic life carried on regardless of the war raging overhead. The author has her finger on the pulse of all things connected to this period and has crafted a superb story, beautifully written with well-developed characters and she has the ability to make you really care about each of them. Absolutely delightful, and easily worth all five glowing stars and a definite recommendation.

About the author

Jennifer Ryan lives in Ireland with her husband and two children. Originally from Kent and then London, Jennifer worked as a nonfiction book editor before she took up writing herself. She now writes historical fiction inspired by her grandmother's tales of the war in Britain. Her work has featured in Literary Hub, Moms Don’t Have Time to Write, The Daily Mail, The Irish Times, The Express, BBC Online, YOU Magazine, The Simple Things Magazine, and Good Reading Magazine.