The Kitchen Front: A Novel

Gwendoline conducts a food demonstration on behalf of the Ministry of Food for a crowd of housewives, as well as Ambrose. She shows how to create a wartime recipe called “Lord Woolton Pie,” feeling confident in her manner and appearance. She considers her marriage to Sir Strickland and her worldly success compared to the struggles of her sister, Audrey. After her demonstration, Gwendoline takes questions from the audience. A woman challenges her and the Ministry of Food, but Gwendoline deflects her questions.

Ambrose approaches Gwendoline and tells her The Kitchen Front is holding a cooking competition to choose its new female host, and he asks her to compete alongside Fenley Hall’s head cook, Mrs. Quince. Gwendoline agrees and returns home to her stately home. She considers her older husband, Sir Strickland, who works in food importation and runs the local Fenley Pie Factory: She suspects he’s not adhering to food rationing laws.

Nell works in the Fenley Hall kitchens alongside her mentor, Mrs. Quince. She feels dismayed at the amount of work she’s been forced into since a previous maid quit. She and Mrs. Quince discuss different paths she might take once she comes of age, and Mrs. Quince encourages her to continue working with food. Nell resents the Stricklands for living in luxury while others suffer, and she longs for a change. As she considers their arrogance and insensitivity, she ruins the food she is cooking.

Zelda, the head cook at Fenley Pie Factory, argues with another cook about her epicurean methods. She feels suffocated by the small village after coming from a luxury hotel restaurant in London. She takes stock of her options as a pregnant woman hoping to return to London as soon as possible once her unborn child is adopted. Her current lodgings are at risk because the landlady is pressuring her to move out due to her pregnancy. Zelda considers the fabricated upper-class accent and background she adopted as she strove to move through the ranks of haute cuisine.

She meets with the factory manager, Mr. Forbes, who addresses complaints about Zelda’s management tactics and continental menus. Zelda examines a newspaper while she waits and discovers the Kitchen Front cooking contest. She disregards the manager’s concerns and instead talks him into giving her a raise by alluding to poor health measures in the workplace. 

Alexander convinces Audrey to try out for the cooking contest. She considers how much stress winning a place on the radio show could alleviate and how much she would enjoy sharing her love of food. Audrey arrives at Ambrose’s house, where he, Gwendoline, Mrs. Quince, and Nell are already waiting. Nell explains that she and Mrs. Quince are joining the contest as a team. However, Nell is nervous and wants Mrs. Quince to do the presenting. Zelda arrives, the only one unknown to the other women, and Ambrose explains the format of the contest. Three rounds will be judged over the summer: starter, main course, and dessert. The dishes are intended to use creativity while staying within weekly ration limits. Everyone toasts to the future of the contest. Gwendoline accosts Audrey and tries to discourage her, alluding to the loan Audrey borrowed from Gwendoline to pay for her house. Gwendoline then moves on to try to coerce Nell and Mrs. Quince into letting her win.

Zelda attempts to bribe Ambrose with her culinary expertise but is thwarted by Gwendoline. Then, she returns to her lodgings and is berated by her landlady. Once inside, Zelda makes a list of the other contestants with their strengths and weaknesses. She comes up with a plan to remove Mrs. Quince: She writes to a friend at another manor house urging them to hire Mrs. Quince away from Fenley. Then, Zelda considers her options for contest-worthy dishes. She meets with ab illicit marketeer to supply her with off-ration fish for her first dish.

Back at her lodgings, she tests out her starter, “Coquilles St. Jacques,” which brings back memories of her unborn child’s father, Jim Denton. He was a fellow chef at a hotel where she worked, and they began an affair. After Jim ran into legal trouble, he tried to leave, but Zelda insisted on coming with him. After a few weeks on the run, they returned to separate restaurant positions, and Jim became distant. When Zelda’s hotel was bombed, she begged Jim to find her work, but he refused. Before leaving London, Zelda tries to tell Jim about her pregnancy but is rebuffed. In the present, she tastes her trial dish.

Gwendoline has breakfast with her husband, who confronts her about the cooking contest. He discourages her, then relents and tells her to fix the contest with Ambrose. She sends Ambrose an invitation and then considers her first dish. When Ambrose arrives, he immediately tells her he needs to judge the contest fairly. She attempts to extort him with Sir Strickland’s influence over his job, but Ambrose retaliates with knowledge of their illegal food imports, leading Gwendoline to feel uncertain about her husband’s adherence to the Food Ministry’s rules. As Ambrose leaves, he wishes her luck.

Audrey decides to get some beehives, both to help with the contest and as a remnant of her childhood. To get them, she trades some of her produce. Her younger sons, Ben and Christopher, talk about food they’ve tried and recipes they’ve heard of at school. They see a pair of planes flying above them, and Christopher has a panic attack; the three of them hide in a bomb shelter until the planes leave. Then, they return to the farm, where they gather ingredients for the Stricklands’ food order; Gwendoline has requested more pastries to keep Audrey busy. Audrey pays particular attention to one cantankerous hen, Gertrude.

When the bees are delivered, Audrey reminisces about her relationship with her mother, her parents’ death, and her subsequent inheritance of her house, Willow Lodge. She believes the inheritance drove Gwendoline away: After Matthew’s death, Audrey had to borrow money from Gwendoline to pay her mortgage. She hopes that the bees will bring good luck, and she and her sons welcome them to their home. Ben encourages the bees to sting Gwendoline and Sir Strickland.

Audrey receives a letter from Gwendoline on behalf of the billeting office; a pregnant evacuee will be coming to stay in her home. Audrey is enraged and plans to dissuade Gwendoline from the action or dissuade the evacuee from wanting to stay.