Maggie's Kitchen

They might all travel the same scarred and shattered streets on their way to work, but once they entered Maggie's Kitchen, it was somehow as if the rest of the world didn't exist. When the Ministry of Food urgently calls for the opening of British Restaurants to feed tired and hungry Londoners during the Second World War, Maggie Johnson is close to realising a long-held dream. But after struggling through government red-tape and triumphantly opening its doors, Maggie's Kitchen soon encounters a most unexpected problem. Her restaurant has become so popular with London's exhausted workers, that Maggie simply can't get enough supplies to keep up with demand for food, without breaking some of the rules. With the support of locals, and the help of twelve-year-old Robbie, a street urchin, and Janek, a Polish refugee dreaming of returning to his native land, the resourceful Maggie evades the first threats of closure from the Ministry. As she fights to keep her beloved Kitchen open, Maggie also tries desperately to reunite Robbie with his missing father, as well as manage her own family's expectations. Ultimately, she can no longer ignore the unacknowledged hopes of her own heart, and the discovery that some secrets have the power to change everything. '...extremely engaging novel for a broad readership about a gifted cook in wartime London. This is Caroline Beecham's first novel, but it is so well structured and fictionalises its fascinating historical sources so successfully that it reads like the work of a veteran storyteller.' Sydney Morning Herald