The Good Plain Cook

by Bethan Roberts

It's summer 1936, and the world is on the cusp of change, but there's little sign of this in rural Sussex. So when Kitty Allen answers an advert looking for 'a good plain cook', she has no idea what she's in for. For starters, her employer is an American called Ellen Steinberg who believes in having the staff call her by her first name and sunbathing in the nude. Then there's Ellen's eleven-year-old daughter, Geenie, a bright, unhappy little thing, and Mrs Steinberg's gentleman friend, Mr Crane, who's said to be a poet - even though he doesn't have a beard and doesn't actually write much poetry. Rich bohemians imagining themselves as communists, Steinberg and Crane see themselves as champions of 'the people' - not that they know the first thing about how the people actually live.

Kitty is in no position to criticise - after all she claimed to be a good plain cook, despite hardly knowing how to boil an egg. Utterly out of her depth, she is relieved to have the gardener, Arthur, to talk to. Otherwise she'd never last a summer in this madhouse. Ellen Steinberg wants life to run as smoothly as the love story she imagines her lover George Crane to be writing. But as Kitty arrives, the dream is on the edge of falling apart.

Genres: Fiction, Historical Fiction, British Literature

338 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2008

About the author

Bethan Roberts was born in Abingdon. Her first novel 'The Pools' was published in 2007 and won a Jerwood/Arvon Young Writers’ Award. Her second novel 'The Good Plain Cook', published in 2008, was serialized on BBC Radio 4’s Book at Bedtime and was chosen as one of Time Out’s books of the year. 'My Policeman' was published by Chatto and Windus in February 2012 and was selected as that year's City Read for Brighton. Her latest novel, 'Mother Island', is longlisted for the Jerwood Fiction Uncovered Prize. She also writes short stories (in 2006 she was awarded the Olive Cook short story prize by the Society of Authors) and drama for BBC Radio 4. Bethan has worked as a television documentary researcher, writer and assistant producer, and has taught Creative Writing at Chichester University and Goldsmiths College, London. She lives in Brighton with her family.

Reviews

[Bettie · Rating 2 out of 5]

An aga saga that left me on cold-cuts


It’s the long, hot summer of 1936 and Kitty Allen has just been employed as a ‘good plain cook’ at the Sussex cottage of the rich American bohemian Ellen Steinberg’s. Innocent Kitty is shocked and fascinated by the unconventional household, which consists of Ellen, her poet lover and her awkward 11-year-old daughter, Geenie. As the weeks pass, all the inmates of the cottage find their preconceptions being challenged, and find that at the end of the summer, their lives have changed forever…

Bethan Cole’s second novel was inspired by a summer she spent as a teenager snooping around Peggy Guggenheim’s house in Venice. After discovering the wealthy heiress had lived briefly in rural Sussex and had famously complained about her ‘good plain cook’s unsophisticated culinary skills, Cole had the idea for her story. This is the perfect beach novel – the skilled writing, which draws you into another time and place, intriguing characters and hint of decadent romance make it an engaging, entertaining read.

[Jenn · Rating 2 out of 5]

I started reading this book, expecting it to be about period cooking/house keeping; something along the lines of Gosford Park, where you got to see the "behind the scenes" daily household running of a manor.
But that was not what the book was about. It was about the relationship of a small group of people spending an isolated summer together.
I kept reading, hoping that it would become more interesting, but I was disappointed.
I thought it was dull. The ending was dull.

[Jo · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love books set between the two world wars, so The Good Plain Cook was perfect for me, being set in 1936. I also love reading about eccentric Bohemian characters, so this was ideal. Bethan Roberts captures the era so well and her writing is so detailed, that I felt as though I was right there in the story. Nothing much happens plot-wise, but this didn't worry me. It's a good, gentle read and reminscent of a Persephone book. Kitty, the good plain cook, can't really cook very well at all. She is far from plain and wins two gentlemen admirers as the book progresses. She is an innocent and this particular heart went out to her at the end. I really didn't trust her employer, Ellen and hoped that Kitty would leave her to manage her own domestic affairs as time went on. I didn't realise until I read the end notes that Ellen was based on a real person - Peggy Guggenheim. She really isn't at all likeable!

[Kim · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was totally not what I expected from the title. I loved the first few pages- but it lost me after that. I didn't feel for any of the characters.

[Jenny Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

An enjoyable read. The characters weren’t always that nice, or people I could empathise with, but it was an interesting snapshot of a summer involving lots of very different characters.

[Val Penny · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bethan Roberts is a relatively new author who was born in Oxford, England. She grew up in nearby Abingdon and was educated at Jesus College, Oxford University and now lives in Brighton. Her first novel The Pools was published in 2007 and won a Jerwood/Arvon Young Writers’ Award. This, her second novel, The Good Plain Cook, published in 2008, was serialized on BBC Radio 4’s Book at Bedtime. It was also chosen as a book of the year by Time Out. The Good Plain Cook is a quietly subversive, sensual novel about coming of age and not knowing your place.

The story begins when a girl answers an advertisement looking for a "good plain cook," she has no idea what she's getting herself into. The year is 1926 in Sussex, England. Kitty Allen was reading the newspaper when she spotted a wanted ad. The ad just said "Wanted – Good plain cook to perform domestic duties for artistic household. Room and board included. Broad outlook essential." As the temperature rises through the long, hot summer, her dream begins to fall apart.

The Good Plain Cook is beautifully written, gently funny, and genuinely touching story that is loosely based on a summer in the life of Peggy Guggenheim.

Kitty had been pondering whether to respond to the ad for several days. She decides to respond but was not sure what to expect. It is soon clear that Ellen Steinberg and her daughter, Geenie were not even in her imagination. Geenie runs around doing what she wants. There were a few times when Geenie could have used some discipline but that was not going to happen. Ellen is completely eccentric. One of her favorite past times is to sun bathe in the nude. Ellen’s lover, George Crane is a poet. He loves Ellen but he gets embarrassed easily by Ellen and her antics. Mrs. Steinberg was so care free and eccentric and does not care what anyone thinks of her: even if she made a fool of herself.

Kitty was a nicely drawn character. She was an English rose who made a great foil to the family's craziness. Unsurprisingly,she does become somewhat over shadowed by Ellen.

Bethan Roberts was a new author to me. I enjoyed this book and believe that The Good Plain Cook by Bethan Roberts is definitely worth reading.

[Donna Brown]

Bethan Roberts has written a nice book here. It's not a masterpiece or even a page turner (not for me anyway) but she creates a good straightforward story with believable characters. Kitty is a young woman who takes up a position as 'a good plain cook'. Her master and mistress are far from troublefree and essentially this is a story about what happens if you take a house full of people, add in some attraction, some problems, a spoonful of scandal and so on. It lacks the 'blockbuster scandal' feel of some modern novels but this seems to fit with the time period of the book (1930s).

However, it is not the story that seems the key here to me but Roberts' description of characters and their feelings. She really seemed to me to capture how people feel or might respond in a given situation. It is these descriptions that add colour to the book and its scenes.

There's not much more to say without giving the plot away but give it a whirl - it's a nice holiday read or even just a weekend curled up escaping bad weather.

[Jeanne · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is my worst read so far this year. The good plain cook couldn't cook. She seemed to enjoy needle work more because she treasured her work box but that was never really explored. There was Arthur the gardner who read westerns with his tea and didn't spend much time gardening. The two little girls were left alone most of the time because the bohemian mother had no interest in them and seemed to have no morals or loyalties. Her lover was supposed to be a poet, writing the Great American Novel and dabbled in Bolshevism and if that wasn't bad enough I would be hard pressed to tell you the plot.

[Kristy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this for a book club, otherwise I probably wouldn't have picked it up. It took a while for me to get into it, I couldn't get into the characters, who all seemed to have shallow relationships with one another and I kept waiting for something to happen. I guess in the end it all came together, but overall I wouldn't recommend this book.

[Penny Taylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed the writing 'of the period' and class boundaries.

[Jen J · Rating 3 out of 5]

The setting is rural Sussex in 1936 where Kitty, the 19 year old female protagonist, answers an advertisement for a good plain cook placed by a rich American socialist, Ellen Steinberg. Kitty doesn't know much about cooking and is rather taken aback by Ellen who bathes in the nude, lives with her Communist poet lover, George Crane, and her unhappy 11 year old daughter, Geenie. The book is loosely based on a time when Peggy Guggenheim rented a Devon country house, Hayford Hall, for two summers in the mid-1930s. As the story unfolds, more is discovered about this rather dysfunctional group. The book is well-written and shines a light on the heady hedonistic days after the First World War and Depression and before the outbreak of World War 2.

[Scott Langston · Rating 2 out of 5]

Picked up as a random poolside read. Interesting idea but too Joanna Trollope for my taste. I wouldn’t read another by this author… just very pedestrian and two dimensional.

[Sabita Bhattarai · Rating 2 out of 5]

Expected a lot but the book was becoming boring after a while.

[Cheryl · Rating 4 out of 5]

The year is 1926 in Sussex. Kitty Allen was reading the newspaper when she spotted a wanted ad.

The ad said…Wanted – Good plain cook to perform domestic duties for artistic household. Room and board included. Broad outlook essential.

Kitty has been pondering whether to respond to the ad for several days. She decides to respond. Kitty wasn’t sure what to expect but I can tell you it wasn’t Ellen Steinberg and her daughter, Geenie. Greenie runs around putting holes in walls and pretty much doing whatever she wants. I don’t know what perceived thoughts Londoners have about Americans but if they met Ellen, it would be that we are all crazy. Ellen is eccentric and not just a little. One of her favorite past times is to sun bath in the nude. Ellen’s lover, George Crane is a poet. He loves Ellen but he gets embarrassed easily by Ellen and her antics.

Bethan Roberts is a new author to me. I absolutely fell in love with this book. The character that really held a place in my heart wasn’t Kitty but Mrs. Steinberg. She was so care free and eccentric and didn’t care what anyone thought of her. Even if she made a fool of herself. I thought Ellen did as good an enough job trying to raise her daughter. There were a few times when Greenie could have used a few good spankings. Kitty was nice. She was too much of a wall flower for me. She became somewhat over shadowed by Ellen. To experience what British authors is cooking up on the other side of the pond, than you should check out The Good Plain Cook by Bethan Roberts.

[Judy · Rating 4 out of 5]

It felt like a good omen when I borrowed this book from the library and discovered it was a signed copy - why, I don't know, as Bethan Roberts isn't a local author to me.

I enjoyed the book very much, and found it rather different from what I'd expected from the title. It's the tale of Kitty, a 1930s girl who isn't really a "good plain cook" at all, but gets a job cooking for a Bohemian couple in Sussex, American champagne socialist Ellen Steinberg and her lover, the poet George Crane, whose relationship is heading for the rocks. The book brings that Bohemian world vividly to life, and is full of humour and sharp observation, showing how George and Ellen, despite their truly-held left-wing convictions, nevertheless sometimes unintentionally patronise and sideline the "ordinary" working people with whom they come in contact. I think Roberts writes beautifully and I now want to read her earlier novel, 'The Pools'.

There's some interesting background material at the end of the book, where Roberts explains how she got the first germ of an idea for the book after visiting the Peggy Guggenheim collection in Venice, and then discovering that art collector Guggenheim and her daughter had lived in Sussex for a time.

[Sally Whitehead · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read Roberts' debut novel "The Pools" a few years ago and loved it for its dark, subversive tone.

From the cover and tagline for "The Good Plain Cook" you could be forgiven for thinking it was the work of an entirely different author. Given the number of negative reviews on here I think it has indeed misled many people.

This isn't a story of "Love, Class and Cooking" as the tagline might imply, in fact the "story" is not the important thing. It isn't the plot which drives this novel forward (which seems to be the complaint of most negative reviewers, "nothing happens") but the subtle characterisation, revelation and deconstruction of a small group of people sharing a claustrophobic summer.

It IS about class, but more the indulgent ennui of the upperclasses than anything more scandalous which may have disappointed some readers.

I REALLY enjoyed it - every character was perfectly drawn (even the deceased Jimmy, who in many ways is still ever present)and the rural 1930s setting was captured pitch perfectly.


Will definitely seek out the two Bethan Roberts books I haven't yet read now.

[Lynne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Set in the thirties in the English countryside, a story of relationships from the perspective of a young teenage servant - the good plain cook, who joined a family who led a rather bohemian lifestyle which would have been very shocking in those days. Today it's more the norm!

I finished the book and can say I thought it was a nice light read with lots to talk about - but I was a little disappointed in it. The author is local to me and I knew a little about her - she teaches creative writing and maybe I expected too much from the book.

The reason I read the book is that it was the choice for a book group I just joined - and it was interesting that the group was split 50/50 by those who loved it and those who didn't! I was someway in the middle - but we had a lively discussion and after it I was surprised at how much we did find to talk about...maybe I was in the wrong mood for it at the time! (it happens!)

[Ashleigh · Rating 1 out of 5]

Reading the blurbs on the front and back of the book I was expecting some sort of revelatory storytelling here. I was sorely disappointed and found myself simply reading this so I would finish as fast as possible. The story centres around Kitty who becomes a cook for the eccentric Ellen. To be honest not much happens in this book and I was utterly bored with the characters. The spoilt Diana irritated me and Kitty's prudish nature just got predictable and bland. I didnt particularly like any of the characters but rather small parts of each of them. Not feeling attached to any of the characters normally means I will end up not really enjoying the storyline, not that there was much of one here. I dont understand why anyone would think this authors writing was "fearless" as the quote on the front cover says. I cant say much more than dont waste your time on this bland story.

[John Marsh · Rating 3 out of 5]

Audible
The story is pre WWII set in the countryside small villages area. Rich American lady with her third man George still not divorced. Her daughter was from her first marriage. George has his daughter come for a time. Main character is the cook Kitty. She falls in lust for George. George and Ellen are seriouly involved but not at the same time. George is clearly a lazy so and so pretending strong interest in the Workers Party , he was suppose to be writing a book. He did seduce kitty in the end for a oncer. Story finishes soon after and can only hope the twenty year old un married Kitty did not get pregnant.
The story is more like a Soap Opera that a stroy as it is slice in the lives of Ellen, George daughters Ginny Dianna and Kitty's sister who ends up divoucing her husband school teacher who has found another woman. It gives a view of the times.

[Jessica James · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was given this book as a Christmas present and I really did try my best to read it but it is single handedly the worst book I have ever read. Extremely dry and incredibly uneventful with a main character that is about as interesting as watching grass grow. The other characters are not much better, their blunted personalities feel forced and one dimensional.
The plot boils down to nothing what so ever but five (eventually six) living in a big empty cottage. Two of them occasionally fight or have sex and Kitty wanders around the whole time being bashful and untalented at everything.
Don't bother asking me how it ends, I didn't bother to find out. My sincerest apologies to the trees that died to print this book, what a waste.

[Natalia Pì · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not bad. I liked it, just found it a little slow occasionally, but all in all I liked it for the portrayal of 1930s rural England, which it did very well. The characters are also interesting, showing two bohemians - one of which is also a 'bolshevik', to use a term from back then - and their kids, on the one hand and a cast of working class characters, on the other. I liked how the author manages to really create a feeling of heavy summer in some of the pages, with her descriptions of nature. She does that so well that you actually feel transported to it. It's an OK novel, I found it through bookcrossing.

[Kate · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this ten years ago and apparently didn’t enjoy this story, so much so I thought it boring, meandering and pointless. After rereading it a second time, unfortunately, my opinion hasn’t changed. I had thought perhaps my mindset at the time had coloured my opinion, but no, it still meanders pointlessly to a close, no real conclusion, it just ends. Perhaps it meant to mirror life, in some poetic style. Sigh.

[Alison · Rating 2 out of 5]

I got part way through this book and it was due back at the library - somehow it didn't seem worth renewing it. There was nothing wrong with it, I was just reading it for the sake of reading it rather than because I was gripped by the characters and the story. Shame.

[lucy black · Rating 3 out of 5]

not as awesome as Bethan Robert's recent book 'My Policeman' but still good. I like the 1930's bohemian countryside thing and it's more interesting when you know it is losely based on Peggy Gugenheim (sp?). The major downfall is the TERRIBLE chick lit cover and publishing push.

[Sherylmc · Rating 2 out of 5]

Kind of a pointless book really...

[Sophie · Rating 1 out of 5]

a not-so-good plain book. Got bored a couple of chapters in. Not enough to keep my attention. I'd rather go back to Mr Norris and Jonathan Strange. Now that's much more stimulating.

[Erika · Rating 4 out of 5]

Eh, an ok read. It was free on Kindle.

[Sarah · Rating 1 out of 5]

On the whole the plot just didn't seem to go anywhere, I found it extremely strange.

[Hannah · Rating 2 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading this, but felt that it didn't really go anywhere.

[Sandy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not what I thought,just a very boring read!