June 22, 2021
The Kitchen Front by Jennifer Ryan
Genre/Categories: Light historical fiction (WW11), Cooking, Friendship, Up-Lit
*This post contains Amazon affiliate links.
My Summary:
A cooking competition meets WW11. Facing bombings, food shortages, and rationing, morale is low among the housewives of Britain. The BBC launches a cooking contest for a show called Kitchen Front. Although the first prize is a coveted chance to be the first female co-host of the show, four very different women discover a more valuable prize to be gained: friendship.
My Thoughts:
Characters: A varied cast of characters and their individual motivations ensure the enjoyability factor of this story: a widow and single mom needs to provide for her children, a kitchen maid envisions a better life, a wealthy lady married to an abusive and demanding husband leaves him, and a trained chef wants to gain recognition in a male-dominated field. Because they each have compelling reasons to desire the prize, some rules are bent and the competition is serious as they plan, prepare, and serve their dishes. Although two are more likable from the start, I found myself eventually rooting for each one.
Themes: Two of the most compelling themes include friendship and women helping women.
“The best gift one could ever have: friendship.”
“…however bad things may seem, with the help, understanding, and camaraderie of friends, we can make the world better for all of us.”
Writing: The Kitchen Front is told in a straight forward chronological timeline from four perspectives which facilitates easy and fast reading. This is a story that I enjoyed more and more as it progressed. I love how the author caused me to care about each of the characters and cheer them on. The Kitchen Front enabled me to image what British women from four walks of life experienced during one year of War11. If you enjoyed The Chilbury Ladies’ Choir by the same author, you might enjoy this up-lit story!
Recommended: I’m warmly recommending The Kitchen Front for readers looking for lighter WW11 stories, for fans of cooking and up-lit, and for those who enjoy friendship and women-helping women-themes.
Content Considerations: death of a spouse, death of a friend/mentor, grieving, domestic abuse
My Rating: 4 Stars
The Kitchen Front Information Here
Meet the Author, Jennifer Ryan
My website: http://www.JenniferRyanAuthor.com
Twitter: JenniferiRyan
Hello, I’m the author of National Bestseller The Chilbury Ladies’ Choir, The Spies of Shilling Lane, and The Kitchen Front. Before I began writing, I was a nonfiction book editor with a passion for the Second World War. My warm and cheerful grandmother would tell stories about that era, both funny and fascinating, and the books are based on these.
If you have read any of my books, do get in touch and tell me what you think. And please visit my website for free monthly giveaways.
http://www.JenniferRyanAuthor.com
QOTD:
Is The Kitchen Front on your TBR or have you read it?
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Nice review of Kitchen Front–I’m keeping it on my TBR, thanks!
It grew on me and ended quite differently than I expected! Enjoy!
Sounds good Carol!
I plan to read this book over this summer. Nice to see that you liked it.
Enjoy!
I already wanted to read this book, but now I want to even more! So glad you enjoyed this one.
Susan
http://www.blogginboutbooks.com
I hope you’ll enjoy it Susan!
I really like this format you’ve got going with the characters/themes etc! I need to reformat my blog but ugh it’s so hard
Thanks Athena! One thing you can do is copy one word or phrase out of each paragraph (that represents the topic) and bold it for a subheading…. If you did that during the editing phase it might not be very time consuming! Thinking about a different format one little step at a time is doable! Good luck! Thinking about format is one way I can motivate myself to write the review! 😂
Nice review Carol. I am definitely looking for lighter reads during the summer. I love cooking as well, so this sounds like it would be a winner for me.
I think you might enjoy this Carla!
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Thanks Nicki! 🙌
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This sounds really cute!
It was more enjoyable than I first anticipated!
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I love it when women help women!
Yes! 🙌
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