A lovely historical story
The characters were likeable. The story was so heartwarming. Well written and enjoyable

I really enjoyed The Kitchen Front by Jennifer Ryan. I highly recommend it.
Thanks to NetGalley and Pan Macmillan for giving me the opportunity to read this book in return for an honest review

Absolutely wonderful book. I enjoyed every moment. I love well researched historical fiction like this

It's the middle of WW2 and creating tasty, filling homecooked meals in the kitchens of Britain is becoming harder as food rationing increases. In a small town outside of London, four very different women enter a BBC cooking contest called The Kitchen Front - aimed at showing those in the kitchen a creative and resourceful way to use their rations, and also find a new co-presenter for a food-focused radio show.

This was a sweet and sentimental book that really hammers home its message of Britain's 'we shall never surrender' during the turbulent years of fighting, and the scare food years that came after it. I enjoyed this for exactly what it was which was a slightly simple book with a message of hope and friendship shining bright within it. I think this is the perfect book to recommend to many relatives or friends who aren't big readers but like certain types of historical fiction or women-focused stories (granny, auntie, mam etc) and I do think it's interesting seeing the creative way people had to think about food and how to make the most of what they had, as well as what the land around the would provide.

The characters themselves were a varied bunch from widowed, overworked Audrey, her awful snooty sister Gwendoline, conniving, pregnant Zelda and sweet and shy Nell. I wasn't sure what to think about Gwen or Zelda as they were both pretty awful to begin with, and there were times Audrey showed flashes of selfishness as well whereas Nell was just slightly on the wet blanket side of things. While I always like and appreciate a story that shows female friendships, and I liked that in this one we also get a huge improvement on a sisterly relationship too, there was no real character progression and all the characters (particularly Gwen and Zelda) seemed to flip a switch and become completely different overnight. So yeah, a story definitely on the simpler side of things but I do think this a perfect book for a certain type of reader!

Really enjoyed this book, great storytelling and a cast of characters who all brought something to the story. An insight to the difficulties faced by women at home during wwII and the inner strength that they found to overcome these challenges - alongside friendship.

I absolutely loved this book and read it over the course of one day. I loved how the story was told from four different perspectives. The plot was excellent and I fell in love with four main characters.

I have read many books which are based around the Second World War and it is always nice to get a different perspective, a different aspect to telling a well versed period of history.

Jennifer Ryan certainly does it with this book and uses the war at home, the food shortages, rationing and cooking to create this wonderful story.

The BBC programme The Kitchen Front needs to relate more to its female audience and so decides to hold a competition for a new presenter. Enter four ladies from Fenley Village.

First is Lady Gwendoline, she knows her status within the village, as being married to the prominent factory owner puts her above everyone else. In here eyes anyway. If she could win, then she would go up in everyone’s expectations, especially her husbands.

Audrey, widow with three young boys is Gwendoline’s sister. And looked upon as the poorer of the two. Devastated by her husband’s death and struggling to keep a roof above her families head, she will do anything to make the extra pennies to survive.

Nell is the kitchen maid for Gwendoline and along with the cook Mrs Quince, well known already in the area for what she can create. Nell is wanting to break free and leave the life of service behind and be her own women. Whilst she has the encouragement from Mrs Quince, can she do something as scary as cook for a competition and potentially win? Confidence is all she needs and it can come from the most unexpected places.

Zelda has bucket loads of confidence, as a chef very much in a mans world and determined to be recognised in her own right. Zelda sees this as a way to further her career. Except war work has taken her to the factory owned by Gwendoline’s husband and her condition means she is about to stand out from the crowd for all the wrong reasons.

All these women are thrown together in the competition and outside of that as well. There ingenuity to create something out of nothing or something out of foul ingredients shows the pluck and determination that the home front employed during rationing. The strength of friendship and adversity means that by the end of the book, all of their lives have changed.

Cooking and a common goal and purpose may have brought these four unlikely women together, but it was love, respect and their strength of belief and friendship which will keep them together long after you have finished reading the book.

An excellent book, covering the home front and full of recipes for dried egg powder, whale meat and tins of spam! Not sure I would want to recreate some of them, but they are all brought to life within the pages of the book.

Thank you to the publisher for the opportunity via netgalley to read this book. Unfortunately I was too late to download my copy but I was interested, so I purchased my own copy and devoured it. Jennifer Ryan’s writing is wonderful and I look forward to reading more.

When a book is described as Great British Bake Off meets WWII, then I know I’m going to like it and this did not disappoint!

Ryan has taken the facts of this era and written a compelling and credible novel by creating four characters of different backgrounds and situations to come together in the small town of Fenton, a and entering the BBC’s contest of finding a female co-host for The Kitchen Front program. ‘The Kitchen Front,’ was a BBC radio program established in 1940 and aired daily to help housewives and cooks make the most of their wartime food rations. The contestants created a tasty three course meal with only the limitations of their ration book.

The story focuses on four women. I loved getting to know the competitors— a professional cook, even her snooty socialite sister, and especially the widow mired in debt, and a maid yearning for freedom — and as I immersed myself in their lives, I was awed by their struggles, and buoyed when they developed a loving support network.

“I found that contentment – happiness even – comes in all kinds of ways. Sometimes you shouldn’t wait for things to be perfect. You just need to enjoy the small things, ever little moment that makes you smile.”

Combined with impressive historical details this group of determined, resourceful and competitive women band together as friends to congratulate the winner and encourage and support each other for the rest of the war as women should and do. Real rationing recipes are included, reflecting the author’s meticulous research on home front food and life.

This story is about friendships and the power of community.

Thank you for the chance to read this book in return for an honest review.

I had not read a book by this author before but this was a really interesting read about wartime rations and cooking. It also went into depth about how recipes were altered and ingredients eked out when really there was little available.
The sardine rolls will haunt me for a very long time - the idea that the oil from the sardine can was the substitute for the fat in the pastry was an eye opener.

Essentially it was a novel about the strength of women in adversity for various reasons, their coming together through a cooking contest for a BBC programme 'The Kitchen Front' and in the end their resilience and the friendships that they forged.
It was redemption for 2 sisters, forbidden love for one young lady (though it seemed to be everlasting) and for the fourth? - learning to love herself and others

I enjoyed this book - it is an easy read but I didn't find it tedious or boring and the wartime recipes that were included were really interesting.

I love to read story about domestic life during the war and this was an excellent one.
I loved the fleshed out and relatable women, i liked their relationship, and found the historical background well researched.
The storytelling is very good and the story kept me reading.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

Loosely inspired by true events, The Kitchen Front is an enjoyable historical novel from Jennifer Ryan set in England during WWll.

Two years into WWII, food shortages have hit England hard and with rationing imposed, women are urged to make do with what they have when it comes to feeding their families. Advice comes from all quarters, including cooking demonstrations sponsored by the Ministry for Food, and weekly radio shows like the BBC’s ‘The Kitchen Front’, which is hosted by Ambrose Hart, a former travel writer obviously a little out of his depth. To increase their appeal to the housewives of Britain, the BBC asks Hart to hold a wartime cooking contest in his local village of Fenley, on London’s outskirts. Open to ‘professional’ cooks, three rounds over three months-Starter, Main and Dessert- scored out of ten will decide a winner who will become Hart’s cohost on the ‘The Kitchen Front’.

Five women join the competition-estranged sisters Lady Gwendoline Strickland and and war widowed mother of three boys, Audrey Langdon; manor house cook, Mrs Quince and her young assistant Nell Brown; and displaced Cordon Bleu trained chef, Zelda DuPont. All are determined to win, the prize offering each of them something they need.

Predictably, though not disappointingly so, the contest and its reward comes to matter less as the women are pushed together due to a series of circumstances, some convenient, others dramatic. Emphasising the themes of integrity, friendship and community, the women find the goals they hope to achieve through winning the competition-purpose, money, independence, and career ambition-are best met with the support of each other.

Along with the challenges of wartime on the home front, Ryan touches on many issues such as grief, domestic violence, patriotism and corruption. There’s romance for Nell too when she meets a handsome Italian prisoner of war billeted to Fenley Hall. I thought the pace was good and the story elements well balanced.

I found the details about rationing and wartime menus to be fascinating. Recent grocery store shortages and price rises due to CoVid and other disasters have been a struggle to cope with, I can’t imagine their struggle, or that I’d have any luck convincing my family to eat sheep head stew or whale meat pie (recipes for both, and more, are included in the book).

Celebrating women and friendship, The Kitchen Front is a pleasant, heartwarming read.

I loved The Chilbury Ladies' Choir and was pleased to see another Jennifer Ryan book arrive in Netgalley. I was not to be disappointed as this was once again a great read. This book details mainly the scarcity of food and rationing issues in WW2 but also the human side of the people left behind in the UK during the war and their specific issues. All the characters are so vivid with easily identifiable characteristics. I discovered many facts that I did not previously know from reading this book and found it a great heart warming historical novel. The idea of a cooking competition, using rationing ingredients to give a healthy three course meal was very inspirational and shows how lucky we are nowadays to get food easily and in many cases waste a lot as well.
I loved looking at the recipes but feel that they might well have been better placed as an Appendix all together so that the flow of the story itself was not disturbed.
What a time though to have this novel as we may well be facing even worse situations soon if WW3 erupts.
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What a lovely historical fiction! This book follows the lives of four women during World War Two. They all take part in a cooking competition to win a job as the cohost of BBCs radio show, The Kitchen Front, which focuses on food and rationing.
The four female characters differed a lot from each other and I liked seeing all their stories and how they intertwined. As the book went on and they became closer to each other, the power of food and friendship really shone through.
It was an emotional read at points and handled the subject of grief well. I really enjoyed it and would definitely recommend.
Thanks to Netgalley and Pan Macmillan for this E-arc in exchange for an honest review.

This was a heartwarming historical fiction read about women and their lives during WWII England and how they coped at home. A bit eerie to be reading when there's this sense in the world that we're on the precipice of another world war, but was definitely a feel good read about women coming together despite each of their own challenges. All in all, a good read I would recommend to others who are fans of historical fiction without a ton of specific historical references.

The book is about a cooking contest set in a town just outside of London where four women have entered the chance to win a co-host spot on the BBC's The Kitchen Front. The premise is simple: the winner will be the person who is most creative with what is available given the extreme rationing at the time and whose dishes taste best.

You have Audrey, a widow and mother of 3, who is an easy character to rally behind - she clearly has demons of her own, but she always seemed to know the right thing to say and when, no matter how badly someone had hurt her in the past. Then there is her sister, Gwendoline, who is the opposite and was definitely not someone you garner support for, but over time, you start to see and understand more of her and why she may act the way she does. Then there is Nell, the kitchen maid at Lady Gwendoline's estate, who lacks in confidence due to her upbringing through various foster homes - young and sheepish, but comes into her own throughout the story. And finally there's Zelda, a prominent chef who has been relocated from London after a bombardment - clearly a well-trained chef who is very narrowly focused on her career.

A couple of quotes:
- "It was deemed bad spirit to show tears - Mr. Churchill had drummed that into them: Collective despair could bring the nation to its knees." (Audrey)
- "Sometimes life at the top isn't as much fun as it seems. It can be quite lonely." (Gwendoline)
- "These three women arrived into my life, and together they made me realize that, however bad things may seem, with the help, understanding, and camaraderie of friends, we can make the world better for all of us." (Audrey)
- "'So, finally, ladies and gentlemen, I'd like to propose one final toast.' Audrey raised her glass. 'To the best gift one could have have: friendship. No matter how near or far, there will always be that invisible thread that binds us together.'" (Audrey)

I found this book a little tedious not very interesting and quite depressing. At times I nearly gave up but I plodded through and managed to get to the end. My thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for giving me the opportunity to read this book in return for an honest review.

What-ho! Time to roll up your sleeves and disappear back into war time. The perfect book to read as WW3 appears to be unfolding in Eastern Europe...

'The Kitchen Front' follows four different women at different roadblocks in their lives. They're all connected when they each decide to enter a competition held by 'The Kitchen Front', a BBC radio programme dedicated to helping housewives stretch rationing budgets during WWII.

Jennifer Ryan hasn't really captured me since 'The Chilbury Ladies Choir' and this was kind of the same. I feel as though she writes very similar books with very similar plots, just the locations and circumstances change with each novel. The stakes aren't particularly high - or if they are, they're not written with enough tension. But, it's an immersive book and I found myself particularly drawn to the side characters rather than the leads. When I picked it up, I thought this book was about the creation of the radio programme - which would have been a million times more interesting.

Lovers of WWII fiction will love it. Everyone else - it's a fifty fifty split.

My thanks to netgalley for the advance copy in exchange for an honest review, which I freely give.

I have not read this author before and is now on my list to read more. I love the way she introduces the characters. We are intoduced them by way of dedicating chapters to them, you get a feel for them. Some you love, some you do not and others you feel sorry for them. Set in WWII the village have a cookery compitition. The idea is to make lovely food from the rations.

We have Audrey, struggling to make ends meet with 3 children whose husband was killed whilst fighting with the RAF. Her younger sister, Lady Gwendoline who has married well. She treats Audrey terrible.

Nell, the kitchen maid at the big house where Lady Gwendoline lives. Nell is looked after by the cook. Her husband though does not understand rations, and with the farmer on the estate there is plenty of black market going on.

Audrey is forced to have an evacuee, by the biliting officer who just happens to be Lady Gwendoline. The evacuee Zelda is also pregnant.

This is a brilliant story and a lot of research has gone into it. Some reviews from the USA have marked it low stars. I was born after the war and only know of the hardships regarding food etc from my parents. The USA did not have this and I do not think the readers understand.

After a lot of chapters, we are given receipes that are mentioned in the chapter. My only problem is that finding them again when I have finished the book. Not just this author but others have also done this. I wish there could be a cross reference at the end.

I have no hesitation in recommending this 5* read.

A beautifully written story about friendship and how much it means to us. A lovely insight into rationing in the war and the tricks to make rations tasty.

Such an enjoyable storyline as well as heartbreaking its so heartwarming. Its set during WW2 and is about the friendships formed when life was tough dur8ng a cooking contest. Lits of research and thought went into getting the recipes authentic. Its a lovely read and I enjoyed it a lot

IF you read one book this year this is it ! A heartwarming tale of four women during the war years in the uk .Its sad ,funny .heartwarming .I absolutley loved it .