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The Kitchen Brigade
Alternate cover edition of ASIN B07MCHV7ML
If an army marches on its stomach, can a cook find a way to win the war?
It’s 2049. In an America torn apart by a long-predicted civil war, Valerie Kipplander—daughter of the assassinated secretary of state—is thrown in jail. When the regime discovers this daughter of privilege is also a talented culinary student, she’s forced into service in the kitchen of a Russian general whose troops occupy New York.
The general’s mansion proves a prison of a different sort. The head chef has a mysterious past, the Russians have a more insidious agenda than what they’ve promised, the resistance wants her on their side, and one of the guards wants her dead.
Valerie knows she must take a stand. The risks are monumental, the choices few. But how long can she serve the men bent on destroying her beloved country?
If an army marches on its stomach, can a cook find a way to win the war?
It’s 2049. In an America torn apart by a long-predicted civil war, Valerie Kipplander—daughter of the assassinated secretary of state—is thrown in jail. When the regime discovers this daughter of privilege is also a talented culinary student, she’s forced into service in the kitchen of a Russian general whose troops occupy New York.
The general’s mansion proves a prison of a different sort. The head chef has a mysterious past, the Russians have a more insidious agenda than what they’ve promised, the resistance wants her on their side, and one of the guards wants her dead.
Valerie knows she must take a stand. The risks are monumental, the choices few. But how long can she serve the men bent on destroying her beloved country?
260 pages, ebook
Published January 10, 2019
18 people are currently reading
13 people want to read
About the author
Laurie Boris
28 books164 followers Laurie Boris is a freelance writer and copyeditor. At one time, she was a magician’s assistant, although she was very bad at it. She has been writing fiction for thirty years and is the award-winning author of Boychik, The Joke’s on Me, Drawing Breath, Sliding Past Vertical, The Call: A Baseball Novel, The Kitchen Brigade, and The Trager Family Secrets series. When not hanging out with the universe of imaginary people in her head, she enjoys baseball, reading, and avoiding housework. You can learn more about Laurie and her work at http://laurieboris.com.
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
January 19, 2019
In The Kitchen Brigade, a powerful dystopian imagining of a post-Trump world in which Russia has overtaken America, author Laurie Boris pulls us into unexpected territory with her rich, detailed narrative of the despair, courage, and persistent creativity found amongst a band of female chefs forced to serve their captors.
The year is 2049 and America is reeling from a catastrophic civil war that has not only decimated the country, but allowed Russia to move in as an occupying force, ostensibly to keep the peace amidst chaos. In truth, they are the ruling force—with all the authoritarian oppression and violence one would expect. The times are dark, families are being torn apart; one simple transgression can get a person executed, but still… people have to eat.
Into the New York kitchen of a vaunted Russian general enters Valerie Kipplander, a trained chef who once had dreams of a culinary career. Now imprisoned, struggling to survive after her parents’ deaths and her brother’s disappearance, she is given a choice: cook for the Russian elite or suffer the consequences. She cooks.
Stunned to discover the person running the kitchen is a former teacher, the complex and mysterious Svetlana, Valeria joins the “brigade,” rekindles her love of cooking, and, with a cadre of unnamed women known only by numbers—Two, Three, Four; Valerie is Three— makes delectable meals with even the most meager of supplies. Her job is to keep their oppressors happy and well-fed, a deal with the Devil that keeps her and her cohorts alive.
Into this setting comes the politics of not only the turbulent and terrifying world at large, but the strangely normal minutia involved in cooking, cleaning, and competing in a kitchen. This juxtaposition—between the madness of outside and the mundanity of this insular scullery with its clashing personalities and occasional failed recipes—lends the story both humor and a kind of tender humanity.
Life turns when Valerie meets a Russian General Nikolai Sobolevsky, who is young, handsome and clearly attracted. The mutual stirring she feels takes her into new, dangerous, and very complicated territory that gives her hope but also puts in danger. Seeking, always, to clarify who is the enemy, who are the friends, she begins taking risks and forming alliances that change the narrative of her journey, leading her to step outside the safety of her position for the potential of love and the cause of resistance and freedom.
As one who’s read other books by Laurie Boris, all of which were contemporary, realistic fiction, I was surprised to find her stretch into the arena of dystopian fiction. But, regardless of genre, she skillfully brings the human element and the basic constructs of good storytelling to this dark tale, just as she did when exploring women in baseball (The Call). Regardless of the future timeline and painfully unimaginable setting, it’s the propulsive plot (one that plays cleverly and terrifyingly on the fears of the current Trump era) that pushes the narrative with suspenseful, page-turning developments, each brought to living, breathing life by relatable characters.
A high recommend.
The year is 2049 and America is reeling from a catastrophic civil war that has not only decimated the country, but allowed Russia to move in as an occupying force, ostensibly to keep the peace amidst chaos. In truth, they are the ruling force—with all the authoritarian oppression and violence one would expect. The times are dark, families are being torn apart; one simple transgression can get a person executed, but still… people have to eat.
Into the New York kitchen of a vaunted Russian general enters Valerie Kipplander, a trained chef who once had dreams of a culinary career. Now imprisoned, struggling to survive after her parents’ deaths and her brother’s disappearance, she is given a choice: cook for the Russian elite or suffer the consequences. She cooks.
Stunned to discover the person running the kitchen is a former teacher, the complex and mysterious Svetlana, Valeria joins the “brigade,” rekindles her love of cooking, and, with a cadre of unnamed women known only by numbers—Two, Three, Four; Valerie is Three— makes delectable meals with even the most meager of supplies. Her job is to keep their oppressors happy and well-fed, a deal with the Devil that keeps her and her cohorts alive.
Into this setting comes the politics of not only the turbulent and terrifying world at large, but the strangely normal minutia involved in cooking, cleaning, and competing in a kitchen. This juxtaposition—between the madness of outside and the mundanity of this insular scullery with its clashing personalities and occasional failed recipes—lends the story both humor and a kind of tender humanity.
Life turns when Valerie meets a Russian General Nikolai Sobolevsky, who is young, handsome and clearly attracted. The mutual stirring she feels takes her into new, dangerous, and very complicated territory that gives her hope but also puts in danger. Seeking, always, to clarify who is the enemy, who are the friends, she begins taking risks and forming alliances that change the narrative of her journey, leading her to step outside the safety of her position for the potential of love and the cause of resistance and freedom.
As one who’s read other books by Laurie Boris, all of which were contemporary, realistic fiction, I was surprised to find her stretch into the arena of dystopian fiction. But, regardless of genre, she skillfully brings the human element and the basic constructs of good storytelling to this dark tale, just as she did when exploring women in baseball (The Call). Regardless of the future timeline and painfully unimaginable setting, it’s the propulsive plot (one that plays cleverly and terrifyingly on the fears of the current Trump era) that pushes the narrative with suspenseful, page-turning developments, each brought to living, breathing life by relatable characters.
A high recommend.
January 25, 2019
The best dystopian novels that I have read have just a trace of believability while being just outrageous enough for your inner voice to tell you, "I can kinda see things going that way but, nah!" However, this fictional future of post-civil war occupied American novel reads more like next week's HBO documentary. In other words, more of a horror story than a cautionary tale. To me, this turned the same switches in my brain that usually are only accessed by Stephen King, M. Night Shyamalan, or Hitchcock perhaps.
Centering around a wonderful cast of the damaged and flawed, taking beautiful dashes of iron chef, chopped, and other cooking fantastic shows an entree of action, suspense, and romance get the perfect bake. As a result, the story is suitable for either Hollywood or Paul Hollywood.
Centering around a wonderful cast of the damaged and flawed, taking beautiful dashes of iron chef, chopped, and other cooking fantastic shows an entree of action, suspense, and romance get the perfect bake. As a result, the story is suitable for either Hollywood or Paul Hollywood.
June 7, 2019
This book is one I was anticipating for a while, and it didn't disappoint.
Laurie Boris is always an amazing story teller, but this might be her best work to date. I moved to a different city not long ago and haven't gotten hooked on a book since I moved. This book dragged me in and wouldn't let me go.
The characters are sweet, fun, complex, and come off the page. The plot is terrifyingly possible, and the suspense is gripping. I finished in three days, and took every chance I could to get just a little bit more read.
This is Laurie's first dystopian novel, but I hope it won't be her last. Please buy "The Kitchen Brigade", read it, and review it. You won't be disappointed.
Laurie Boris is always an amazing story teller, but this might be her best work to date. I moved to a different city not long ago and haven't gotten hooked on a book since I moved. This book dragged me in and wouldn't let me go.
The characters are sweet, fun, complex, and come off the page. The plot is terrifyingly possible, and the suspense is gripping. I finished in three days, and took every chance I could to get just a little bit more read.
This is Laurie's first dystopian novel, but I hope it won't be her last. Please buy "The Kitchen Brigade", read it, and review it. You won't be disappointed.
Want to Read
May 10, 2019Author's guest post at my blog:
https://bookfare.blogspot.com/2019/05...
https://bookfare.blogspot.com/2019/05...
May 10, 2019
Laurie Boris’ “The Kitchen Brigade,” a dystopian novel, portrays a world where little can be trusted, and friends should never be confidants.
Read full review in the 2019 May issue of InD'tale Magazine.
Read full review in the 2019 May issue of InD'tale Magazine.
August 6, 2019
Original review here at Reedsy Discovery: https://reedsy.com/discovery/book/the...
A former USA government official's daughter helps mobilize a fitting resistance movement from the kitchen in this timely dystopian novel.
Women placed in the kitchen turn out to be quite dangerous in Laurie Boris' The Kitchen Brigade--a smart, subversive dystopia about chefs planning a revolution while plating dessert. The USA is in the midst of another Civil War (this time the secessionists are the New Confederacy and their largest militia is the horrifyingly-named America First Army); in all the chaos, Russia takes over the Eastern Seaboard under the guise of a peacekeeping mission. The secretary of state, along with most of the government, has been assassinated, but his daughter Valerie survives in the Hudson Valley. Valerie's culinary institute training lands her a prominent position in the house of the enemy: sous-chef for the powerful Russian General Grigori Alexandrov.
Working for the general involves managing a life full of high-risk political intrigue, like whispering covert deals in wine cellars and learning how to convey information to resistance fighters through the arrangement of herbs on the main course. Valerie must manage not only the tough Head Chef Svetlana Bogonovskya, but also her cranky secretive adopted daughter Anya, dubbed number "Two" in the kitchen. With Valerie as the new "Three," tattooed pastry chef Four, spindly Five, and mute Six round out the team. While attempting to manage her complicated new environment, Valerie encounters a kind Cuban informant, a cruel guard who holds a lethal grudge against her father, a computer hacker in hiding, and the attractive General Nikolai Obolevsky. But who's really on which side?
This novel has some small dystopian world-building issues, mostly at the beginning when certain time shifts can be confusing for a reader who's new to the world. There's also an underutilized plot involving Valerie's brother Etienne. Etienne has been separated from his family, but at the novel's opening, he reenters the USA disguised as a Russian in order to spy on the enemy. The plot flips back and forth expertly between the siblings for a bit, but then Etienne unfortunately drops out of the narrative for long stretches of time. Despite these slight criticisms, Boris' novel is absolutely worth a read, particularly for the moments involving Valerie trying to protect the young son of her family's former housekeeper. Even though Valerie was wealthy before the outbreak of the war, she's always compassionate to the underprivileged and critical of those in power. That's an important lesson to learn if we don't want our future to look like this one.
A former USA government official's daughter helps mobilize a fitting resistance movement from the kitchen in this timely dystopian novel.
Women placed in the kitchen turn out to be quite dangerous in Laurie Boris' The Kitchen Brigade--a smart, subversive dystopia about chefs planning a revolution while plating dessert. The USA is in the midst of another Civil War (this time the secessionists are the New Confederacy and their largest militia is the horrifyingly-named America First Army); in all the chaos, Russia takes over the Eastern Seaboard under the guise of a peacekeeping mission. The secretary of state, along with most of the government, has been assassinated, but his daughter Valerie survives in the Hudson Valley. Valerie's culinary institute training lands her a prominent position in the house of the enemy: sous-chef for the powerful Russian General Grigori Alexandrov.
Working for the general involves managing a life full of high-risk political intrigue, like whispering covert deals in wine cellars and learning how to convey information to resistance fighters through the arrangement of herbs on the main course. Valerie must manage not only the tough Head Chef Svetlana Bogonovskya, but also her cranky secretive adopted daughter Anya, dubbed number "Two" in the kitchen. With Valerie as the new "Three," tattooed pastry chef Four, spindly Five, and mute Six round out the team. While attempting to manage her complicated new environment, Valerie encounters a kind Cuban informant, a cruel guard who holds a lethal grudge against her father, a computer hacker in hiding, and the attractive General Nikolai Obolevsky. But who's really on which side?
This novel has some small dystopian world-building issues, mostly at the beginning when certain time shifts can be confusing for a reader who's new to the world. There's also an underutilized plot involving Valerie's brother Etienne. Etienne has been separated from his family, but at the novel's opening, he reenters the USA disguised as a Russian in order to spy on the enemy. The plot flips back and forth expertly between the siblings for a bit, but then Etienne unfortunately drops out of the narrative for long stretches of time. Despite these slight criticisms, Boris' novel is absolutely worth a read, particularly for the moments involving Valerie trying to protect the young son of her family's former housekeeper. Even though Valerie was wealthy before the outbreak of the war, she's always compassionate to the underprivileged and critical of those in power. That's an important lesson to learn if we don't want our future to look like this one.
June 17, 2019
In a not-so-distant future Russia occupies America. Travel is limited. Employment is limited. Freedom is limited. Valerie grew up privileged as the daughter of the secretary of state but is now forced to cook for the army in this occupied-America. With her culinary background she impresses a Russian general and is given the ‘opportunity’ to work in his mansion. Christened “Three” she works with a head chef and four other chefs in the kitchen during the day. This opportunity involves being led to her work space in handcuffs every day, bullied and belittled by the guards and the guests at times, and forced to work for the same men who killed her father and are destroying her country’s freedoms. She knows she will not do nothing, will not work demurely, will not stand idly by if an opportunity presents itself.
Though supplies may be scarce, the kitchen brigade bring life and love to the dishes they prepare. Head Chef Svetlana says some very poignant remarks about cooking and food throughout the novel. It is their love of food and their passion for cooking that bring life to the kitchen and hope to their hearts. It is this passion that seems to lead them in other areas of their lives and gives them the willingness to stand up for what they believe in and the need to act when they can.
I enjoyed all the characters very much. Head Chef Svetlana seemed so complex when viewed from both her point of view and from Valerie’s point of view combined. Who is Svetlana really and what side does she work for? Valerie is very courageous, even in the beginning she does not yield instantly to her fate. Yet, she does not fight when there is no reason. She is industrious and clever. Two seemed the most complex character with the least explanation or backstory and I really enjoyed this slight ambiguity. In the height of chaos, what would she do? She is the loose cannon that could crumble Svetlana’s plans and yet Svetlana loves Two like a daughter. I adored Four so much! She was so cool. Each of the women in the employ of Svetlana in the kitchen were full of personality.
I enjoyed the details of running the kitchen, including food preparation, wine pairing, cleaning, herb gardening, and more.
This book had great suspension and tension throughout. The ending came suddenly and some of the action I couldn’t quite picture but I enjoyed reading it nonetheless.
Though supplies may be scarce, the kitchen brigade bring life and love to the dishes they prepare. Head Chef Svetlana says some very poignant remarks about cooking and food throughout the novel. It is their love of food and their passion for cooking that bring life to the kitchen and hope to their hearts. It is this passion that seems to lead them in other areas of their lives and gives them the willingness to stand up for what they believe in and the need to act when they can.
I enjoyed all the characters very much. Head Chef Svetlana seemed so complex when viewed from both her point of view and from Valerie’s point of view combined. Who is Svetlana really and what side does she work for? Valerie is very courageous, even in the beginning she does not yield instantly to her fate. Yet, she does not fight when there is no reason. She is industrious and clever. Two seemed the most complex character with the least explanation or backstory and I really enjoyed this slight ambiguity. In the height of chaos, what would she do? She is the loose cannon that could crumble Svetlana’s plans and yet Svetlana loves Two like a daughter. I adored Four so much! She was so cool. Each of the women in the employ of Svetlana in the kitchen were full of personality.
I enjoyed the details of running the kitchen, including food preparation, wine pairing, cleaning, herb gardening, and more.
This book had great suspension and tension throughout. The ending came suddenly and some of the action I couldn’t quite picture but I enjoyed reading it nonetheless.
May 20, 2019
I’ve read more than a few dystopian novels. The Kitchen Brigade has the elements those I like tend to have, most significantly happening in the near future with a story world that I can easily relate to and picture myself trying to survive in. I’ve read a few of Laurie Boris’ novels as well, and despite none of them being dystopian, this one had many of the same qualities as her others did including relatable and believable characters, writing that read smoothly and does a good job of putting your imaginary self in the middle of what’s happening.
But this book, like her others, is also unique. Valerie, the protagonist of The Kitchen Brigade, isn’t like the hero of any other dystopian novel I’ve read. Exactly what her situation was and where it was going to take her wasn’t clear until the end, to either us or to Valerie. But I was pulling for her to successfully make it through this experience, whatever succeeding turned out to be.
**Originally written for "Books and Pals" book blog. May have received a free review copy. **
But this book, like her others, is also unique. Valerie, the protagonist of The Kitchen Brigade, isn’t like the hero of any other dystopian novel I’ve read. Exactly what her situation was and where it was going to take her wasn’t clear until the end, to either us or to Valerie. But I was pulling for her to successfully make it through this experience, whatever succeeding turned out to be.
**Originally written for "Books and Pals" book blog. May have received a free review copy. **
April 15, 2019
Set in the future (maybe not too distant) Russia has managed to take control of parts of America. As we follow Valerie's journey as 'slave' in a kitchen, we are carried along with the sumptuous cooking that is taking place and the undercurrents of a possible rebellion.
The enjoyment of the book is further enhanced by skillful segue between chapters - it's not always necessary to follow on with consequences, immediately in the next chapter, so as to keep the reader in suspense a bit longer. Rather, the author drip-feeds us through conversations a bit later.
A really clever book and highly (scarily) believable or, perhaps the author is just so clever at their craft that the story seemed possible!
The enjoyment of the book is further enhanced by skillful segue between chapters - it's not always necessary to follow on with consequences, immediately in the next chapter, so as to keep the reader in suspense a bit longer. Rather, the author drip-feeds us through conversations a bit later.
A really clever book and highly (scarily) believable or, perhaps the author is just so clever at their craft that the story seemed possible!
June 14, 2019
We are proud to announce that THE KITCHEN BRIGADE by Laurie Boris is a B.R.A.G.Medallion Honoree. This tells readers that this book is well worth their time and money!
September 18, 2021
Awesome Indies Book Awards is pleased to include The Kitchen Brigade by Laurie Boris in the library of Awesome Indies Book Awards'
Badge of Approval
recipients.
September 29, 2022
I've likely read as many Dystopian novels as I have classics. If you are searching for a book where food is a focus and many of the main scenes take place in the kitchen then you may want to check out The Kitchen Brigade.
October 29, 2019
I love it..
Food, wine, spies! Love.... Good guys, bad guys, a history that's scary. Who do you trust??? Who knew cooking could be this much of a challenge?
Food, wine, spies! Love.... Good guys, bad guys, a history that's scary. Who do you trust??? Who knew cooking could be this much of a challenge?
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews