Librarian Book Review: The Alice Network

BOOK TITLE:
The Alice Network by Kate Quinn

BOOK SUMMARY: (from goodreads)
In an enthralling new historical novel from national bestselling author Kate Quinn, two women—a female spy recruited to the real-life Alice Network in France during World War I and an unconventional American socialite searching for her cousin in 1947—are brought together in a mesmerizing story of courage and redemption.

1947. In the chaotic aftermath of World War II, American college girl Charlie St. Clair is pregnant, unmarried, and on the verge of being thrown out of her very proper family. She's also nursing a desperate hope that her beloved cousin Rose, who disappeared in Nazi-occupied France during the war, might still be alive. So when Charlie's parents banish her to Europe to have her "little problem" taken care of, Charlie breaks free and heads to London, determined to find out what happened to the cousin she loves like a sister.

1915. A year into the Great War, Eve Gardiner burns to join the fight against the Germans and unexpectedly gets her chance when she's recruited to work as a spy. Sent into enemy-occupied France, she's trained by the mesmerizing Lili, the "Queen of Spies", who manages a vast network of secret agents right under the enemy's nose.

Thirty years later, haunted by the betrayal that ultimately tore apart the Alice Network, Eve spends her days drunk and secluded in her crumbling London house. Until a young American barges in uttering a name Eve hasn't heard in decades, and launches them both on a mission to find the truth ...no matter where it leads.

REVIEW:
This novel flows seamlessly between the two world wars and the viewpoints of two very different women with the same quest. Eve is a bristly veteran of both wars with a stammer, a gun, lots of whisky, and revenge on the brain. She has survived hunger and cold, terror and torture, but it is her betrayal during World War I that still haunts her dreams. Charlie is a pregnant college girl during a time when girls were sent to college to get husbands, then babies, not the other way around. She has been touched secondhand by World War II when her brother committed suicide after he returned home and her cousin, Rose, disappeared in Nazi-occupied France. She has not witnessed the horrors for herself as Eve did.  After losing her brother, Charlie is on her way Europe to have her Little Problem taken care. She takes a detour, running away from her mother, and knocks on Eve’s door as the only lead she has to find her cousin.  Separated by 30 years and two world wars, both women are desperate for answers, closure, and revenge if it can be found.  Clinging to scraps of information, Eve and Charlie travel throughout France searching for answers among the evil that connects them both.

OVERALL THOUGHTS:
The Alice Network tells the story of a little known group of extraordinary everyday people who were invaluable to the Allied war effort.  The author does a wonderful job switching between the two narratives as Eve tells her story to Charlie and Finn, Eve’s driver.  I never felt like the switch was awkward, although at times I did want to read ahead to know what was happening in the spy network. I would definitely suggest reading the PS at the end for further insight to the real Louise de Bettignies, known as the queen of spies, and the head of the Alice Network. This was a very engaging read during a point in history that I find to be interesting not only because of the psychological and physical atrocities that people were able, and some more than willing, to commit against their fellow man, but also because of the quiet strength and perseverance that countless people demonstrated during and after the wars.

Where to Find in the Library: Adult Section - FIC QUI

Cautions for Sensitive Readers:
Language: Yes
Violence: Some
Sex: Yes
Drugs/Alcohol: Alcohol

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