The Kitchen Front

The past few months have been very hectic. I finished up the school year teaching at the junior high, packed up, and moved to Colorado. I will be attending graduate school here in the Fall which I'm really looking forward to. But with all that busyness I haven't had too much time to post about what I've been reading.

One of the more recent books I've read is thanks to a book club I've joined since moving here! The book that we will meet and discuss in August is The Kitchen Front by Jennifer Ryan.

This book is set during WWII in England. It chronicles a cooking competition between four women all who have different motivations for wanting to win the prize--a job as a BBC radio announcer on a radio show about cooking with war rations.

Audrey is a widow with three boys, her husband having died earlier in the war. She needs the job to simply keep a roof over their heads.

Gwendoline, Audrey's younger sister, feels like she has something to prove as the Lady of the town and in an attempt to appease her husband.

Nell, a maid in Gwendoline's kitchen, imagines life must be better than just cooking and slaving for other people.

Zelda, a chef from London who had to flee the bombing, is an unwed pregnant woman and has to find a way to give her baby up for adoption and work her way up to head chef of a prestigious restaurant.

The story is a heart-warming glimpse at the small joys and the ways that people found to enjoy their love of cooking despite their surroundings. While the book is historical fiction, there are many aspects that are based in fact! 

One of the things I loved about this book was the different recipes that it details. I love cooking and baking so it was fun to hear about the recipes and foods throughout the book. I decided to try cooking one of them--a French dish called Coquille St. Jacques, that Zelda cooks in the first round of the competition.

It was pretty simple to cook and very delicious! Even my three year old loved it. Here is the recipe I followed.

If you love cooking, historical fiction, romance, and books about friendship, you'll enjoy this book! You can purchase a copy here.