The Alice Network
2017 • 503 pages
Ratings72
Average rating4.2
15
Ratings72
Average rating4.2
"It's 1947 and 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 fervent belief that her beloved French cousin Rose, who disappeared in Nazi-occupied France during the war, might still be alive somewhere. So when Charlie's family banishes her to Europe to have her "little problem" take care of, Charlie breaks free and heads to London determined to find out what happened to the cousin she loves like a sister. In 1915, Eve Gardiner burns to join the fight against the Germans and unexpectedly gets her chance to serve when she's recruited to work as a spy for the English. Sent into enemy-occupied France during The Great War, 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 launching them both on a mission to find the truth ... no matter where it leads"--
Reviews with the most likes.
A decent novel with some compelling characters and an interesting historical backdrop. The prose workmanlike.. adequate but plodding at times. The first half of the book is considerably stronger than the second. The writing, dialogue and character development suffer from impatience as the plot comes to a conclusion. Eve's wartime story and character is much more compelling and believable than Charlie's. In fact, the book would have been much better if it focussed solely on Eve. The romantic storyline was somewhat flat and glib. I also felt that the story deserved a more sophisticated conclusion. The subject matter has so much depth, and it just felt a little inadequate to end it in such a Hollywood/ TV series way.
Reading Challenge category: an adventure/espionage novel.
Aside from the cheesy math metaphors, I enjoyed this book. I didn't realize until the end that it was based on a true story, and that actually made it more enjoyable in retrospect for me. I liked the alternating chapters that told two stories, which is a structure I don't usually enjoy.
This was a fun read for this category.
What a wonderful story. The author does an amazing job of weaving a story around historical figures and events and the Alice Network of spies that were active in the World Wars. We were so fortunate to Skype with the author during our book club discussion, and Ms. Quinn shared how many of the events in the book were things that did happen. The story brings you along with four main characters, one of whom is pure evil, and the reader roots for the good guys at every turn. I didn't feel like I received a history lesson, but I realize I know a lot more about the history of these women than I did before I read this book. Loved it!
Quinn has clearly done her research: nearly every single beat of her story about female spies in WWI is hold up by primary sources. Usually I feel uncomfortable about fictionalizations of real people, but this is such an untouched area of history, that I loved seeing these characters come to life. The stories about how women managed to sneak in and out of occupied European countries, and pass messages on hat pins, hidden by the misconceptions that women would never participate in war efforts were fascinating.
Like other reviewers, I thought the book as a whole was less than a sum of its parts – I liked Charlie, and I was interested in her search following WWII, but it was much thinner. I was hoping for more about the war effort in WWII. It was vaguely alluded to at various points that Eve worked WWII, but never really explored.
