The Kitchen Front by Jennifer Ryan: Book Review

The Kitchen Front is the latest release from Jennifer Ryan. The highly anticipated novel was released in February 2021 by Ballantine Books. In The Kitchen Front, we are introduced to four women in different places in their lives but are all working to survive in World War II England. Audrey, Gwendoline, Nell, and Zelda are from different backgrounds, but they all have one thing in common the love of cooking.

Synopsis

World War II has been raging for 2 years. The Nazis have destroyed cities and cut off supplies, causing food shortages throughout Britain. The Kitchen Front is a radio show created in the hopes of helping housewives work with the rationing and make the food go further. The trouble? It was hosted by a man, who many women feel doesn’t understand what they are facing. The BBC agrees and runs a contest to help find a female voice for the show. For four women, this contest is the chance to better their lives.

A widow with 3 boys is trying to run a bakery out of her home to help make ends meet. A kitchen maid is hoping for freedom from a life of servitude. The lady of the manor wants to show her husband she’s not worthless. A trained chef wants to prove to those in the business that a woman can run a top restaurant kitchen.

Each contestant has her own battles to fight. Will the contest make them fight each other, or will they come together and support each other?

Positives

The four main characters are wonderfully written. Each is a sample of the women found in the villages of the era—the lady of the manor, her kitchen maid, a struggling widow, a determined career-minded woman. In many ways, those personas still exist today.

The setting sounds beautiful! I have always wanted to visit England and see the small villages so often mentioned in books. This book makes me want to make such a visit even more.

Negatives

Lady Gwendoline is an evil, obnoxious woman when we first meet her. I must say, I took an instant dislike to her. She was always looking down her nose at people, thinking she was better than everyone else. It took until the final third of the book for me to start to actually like her. At least she got her redemption arc before the end of the novel.

There were moments when Audrey wasn’t much better. She was so focused on her pain and how to make things work for her boys that she had trouble seeing what was around her. I understand she was struggling to survive, but her actions were causing issues for her boys in many ways. Thankfully, she had someone come along and give her a break so that she could grieve her husband.

My Opinion

When I first learned of this book at the beginning of the year, I instantly added it to my TBR. While a historical fiction set during World War II, this book doesn’t focus solely on the war. Yes, the war is a character in the book, but it’s a minor character. You know it is there, but it’s not at the front of the story. And I find that to be refreshing.

This book offers a glimpse into what it was like for the women left behind. They fought a different kind of war from the men. The women had to learn to survive in rations and go without many things they thought to be staples. Things such as butter, eggs, cream, and sugar. They had to be innovative and create new recipes with whatever they had on hand. As someone who loves baking, I am not sure I would have been so keen on trying to use the ingredients they had access to.

I listened to the audiobook but may have to keep my eyes open for a physical copy as there are recipes included. The recipes of that era have always intrigued me due to the innovations that had to be made and how the recipes had to be altered.

This is the first book by Jennifer Ryan that I have read, but it will not be the last.

Looking for some more books to read? Check out my other book reviews and my monthly reading wrap-ups.