Long before cooking
shows on the Food Network, England enjoyed a BBC program called The Kitchen
Front, also the title of the latest novel by Jennifer Ryan. The show is looking
for a female hostess, and since the British love nothing better than a good
contest, four women compete for the spot.
The challenge promises
a much-needed boost in the lives of each of women during World War II: Audrey,
a war-widow needs more income to take care of her three children and her falling-down
house; her sister Gwendoline, a battered wife who sees the contest as a chance
to escape her husband; Nell, Gwendoline’s kitchen maid hopes the contest will
help her leave a service position; and Zelda, a single woman with a big secret is
also a chef who is desperate to compete with men in her profession.
Not only do the women
each have to prepare three amazing dishes to win the contest, but they also must
do so with the rationing of some groceries and the unavailability of others.
For the winner, the Kitchen Network will be a dream come true, but what will
happen to runners-up?
Jennifer Ryan was “a nonfiction book editor, first
editing politics and economics at The Economist Books, and then moving on to
the BBC, DK, and other publishers, editing books on health, cooking, wine, and
history.” She wanted to share her grandmother’s stories about WWII and did so
in The Chilbury Ladies' Choir, a bestseller.
