The Kitchen Front: A Novel

Gwendoline ponders the relationship between Zelda and Jim and admits that she’d hoped she and Jim could become more. She heads home and worries that Nell will betray her. When she arrives, Sir Strickland is tearing apart her bedroom. When he sees her, he threatens her and calls her names: He tells Gwendoline that Brackett saw her and Jim together. She attempts to reason with him, but he attacks her. When she calls for help, Sir Strickland mocks her. Then, Nell arrives and threatens Sir Strickland with a knife. Sir Strickland throws them both out.

Gwendoline and Nell arrive at Audrey’s doorstep asking for shelter. They relate their experience with Sir Strickland, and Gwendoline asks Audrey to take Nell in. Audrey despairs that she can’t take care of so many people, and Gwendoline and Nell tell her that they’ll help with her business and take care of her sons. Audrey agrees to let them stay the night. 

Gwendoline adjusts to being back in her childhood home. She spends the night in Audrey’s room and reflects on their shared childhood and her sense of ostracization. She and Audrey have an open discussion of their relationship with their mother, and Gwendoline opens up about the hardships of her marriage.