Book Review of
The Kitchen Front
Two years into World War II, 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 holding 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 competition would present 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 a 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 only serve to break it apart?
Lynn's Review
The Kitchen Front by Jennifer Ryan is a WWII book set on the home front instead of overseas. The Kitchen Front is not only about WWII it is about food and cooking. A book that combines WWII and cooking is a book I knew that I had to read.
The Kitchen Front is about four women living in England during the war. The war has impacted all of them in different ways. They start out as competitors in a cooking contest, but their lives soon become entwined in a much bigger way.
The Kitchen Front is a book about war, family, friends, death, hardship, and more.
For me, this book was just the reminder I needed. I had been complaining that I couldn’t find some of my favorite products at the grocery store and then I read this book. The fact that I couldn’t find my favorite brand of a certain item, no longer seemed like that big of a deal.