The Kitchen Front by Jennifer Ryan

Delightful, uplifting story about four women who start out as competitors and end up friends. World War 2 brings stringent food rationing to England. Learning to cook palatable food with limited ingredients is difficult so the Ministry of Food provides recipes for women on the "kitchen front". Competitions become a significant entertainment and this story describes in delicious detail, a competition to choose a co-presenter on a radio food show. Evocative descriptions of nature, honey extraction, preparation of food and scary recounting of war planes flying overhead provide the reader with a visceral experience of life in England on the home front.