Book review of The Alice Network from Kate Quinn #MondayBlogs #BookReview #AmReading #HistoricalFiction

The Alice Network has been on my TBR for ages, but – like most serious and seriously thick books – hadn’t made it to the top of my pile. There’s only one thing to do in such a case – force the book on my book club, so I have to read it by a certain date. Boy, am I glad I did! I loved this book. Although I was frightened by the page numbers, it was actually a quick read.

~ Blurb ~

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.

~ My Review ~

I can’t stop thinking about this book. It brought WWI alive for me. Although I’m a history geek and have even visited many WWI battle sites (including Verdun which is vital battle ground in Eve’s story), I’m less interested in the Great War than what came after. Quinn definitely changed my mind especially when I read the author’s note at the back of the book and realized how much of the book is based on actual people and events.

I loved how this novel featured two female protagonists. I especially enjoyed wartime events being told from a woman’s standpoint, and not just any woman – a woman who had been on the front lines, as it were, and not as a nurse. Eve is a great character. With each chapter, the reader slowly peels back the different layers of her personality until her truth is revealed – and what a truth! Although she was probably the grumpiest protagonist I’ve read, I’d love to sit down and have a drink with Eve. Oh, the stories she could tell.

Charlie’s character, on the other hand, started a bit flat. She was a messed up girl who, instead of facing her future, went off on a fool’s mission to find her cousin Rose, who despite all evidence to the contrary Charlie is convinced is still alive. Charlie did grow on me as she developed into her own person. Her history is more messed up than finding herself pregnant and unmarried.

I loved the juxtaposition between the two stories. Slowly but surely we learn how the two stories are interconnected and how the past of Eve and the present of Charlie weave together. I didn’t like one story better than another. I felt the two stories together were necessary to complete the overarching story. Although fictional (even if roughly based on true characters), I felt these characters and their stories were believable, which made them powerful.

This is a book to be read time and time again. If you haven’t read The Alice Network yet, what are you waiting for?

I’m now starting on The Lost Girls of Paris, which is this month’s book club read.