The Alice Network by Kate Quinn

 

Summary (from the publisher): 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: The year is 1947 and American college girl Charlie St. Clair is on her way to Europe to have her "little problem"  - otherwise known as an unplanned pregnancy with no husband in sight - taken care of. Charlie is feeling lost and confused about what she wants and also desperate to find out what happened to her French cousin Rose, who disappeared during the war. She manages to slip away from her mother and seek out the last known contact with her cousin, one Eve Gardiner. In alternate chapters, Eve's story of serving as a spy in 1915 is slowly revealed. Sent into occupied France, she works for Lili, who manages a vast network of secret agents known as the Alice Network. But the woman Charlie meets in 1947 is a ruin of the brave young woman the reader meets in the 1915 chapters. The older Eve is shattered both physically and emotionally and drinks her pain away every night. Together, the two women embark on a mission to find the truth behind the disappearance of cousin Rose in WWII and what really happened to Eve during the first World War. 

I liked the emphasis on strong female characters in this novel as well as the intertwined storylines that incorporated tales from both world wars. Quinn did an excellent job of building suspense as the storylines progressed and the curiosity to find out what happened to Rose and what happened to Eve in her earlier years continued to grow. I listened to this as an audio book and the narrator did an excellent job and even incorporated the many accents among the characters, including French, American, British, and Scottish. 

In many ways this felt like a typical work of historical fiction with two connected plotlines. Between the two plotlines there felt like almost too much going on to fully unpack. While Charlie opens the story and initially comes across as the main character, in the end I felt like Eve was the true star of this story. Charlie reads as somewhat vapid and flighty and her back story is teased for chapters, which just left her feeling like a stock character rather than a fully realized one. I also didn't believe that Charlie's mother would have just let her go with two strangers without a fight. The tidy conclusion for Charlie also felt a little too tidy and happily ever after for me. 

Stars: 3