The Alice Network

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.

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!

It's 1947 and Charlie has been brought to Europe by her mom to get her an abortion. But she has other plans. She needs to find her missing cousin Rose and intends to do just that. She finds Evelyn and asks for her help because she thinks Eve has relevant information. Eve is a sad perpetually drunk woman, but something about the story of Rose intrigues her and decides to help. Both the women along with Eve's man friday Finn decide to go to France retracing Rose's last known whereabouts. In the timeline of 1915, we follow Eve as she gets recruited as a spy and sent to France. We meet her fellow spies and friends Lili and Violette and how they take unprecedented risks to send information back home. Towards the end, the two timelines converge towards a revenge that seems inevitable.

This book is one in a series of books that I am reading these days related to female spies during the world wars. Eve's story shows us that women have always fought on their own terms since WWI, even when they didn't have equal rights or opportunities. The women of the Alice Network show indomitable courage in the face of evil every single day. Even when some of them are caught, they refuse to bow down and go back to their tasks with more determination. They are tortured and humiliated but nothing gets to them. Lili is known as the Queen of spies and does she epitomize the title. I was absolutely in awe of these characters. On the other hand, Charlie starts off as a bit unnerving but her single point obsession to find Rose is somewhat endearing. But being with Eve and Finn definitely improves her character and she comes into her own in the latter part of the book. This is definitely a very inspiring read and gives us much more insight into the sacrifices women make in wartime.

The Author' Note and the letters at the end of the book are very enlightening and provide valuable information about the women on whom this book is based. They really are heart wrenching. I suggest everyone to not give them a miss.

I don't have the time to sit down and read like I want to. So audiobooks, are now my go to, this book was narrated by Saskia Maarleveld, and wish there was a way to give her 5 stars for the amazing job she does, making you travel in the book and seeing the story, like it's a movie.
The book is interesting, you want to find out more and more what will happen next and the raw details of what the women offered in the big wars in not something you often read.
I only wished the ending didn't fell so rushed and expected.

The Alice Network is told through 2 POVs: Eve's and Charlie's. When reading reviews of this book I noticed a great number of people stating they preferred Eve's and, after having read it, I would 100% agree. In fact, Charlie could have been removed from the story and not much would have changed. Personally, I don't find her character added much, I don't see what her purpose in the grand scheme of things was. Adding to that, her part of the story was too predictable. Within her first few chapters, if not the first, you can guess how things are going to end for her and her part of the plot. At last, I just want to make a little comment on how unnecessary the romance was; the need people feel of adding romance to every single thing  (not just books) is annoying.

I really enjoyed this work of historical fiction. It was fascinating to read about the network of female spies and their work during WWI. The book alternates storylines between WWI and post WWII. The storyline during WWI was more compelling; the post WWII portion more of a novel. The bravery and resilience of the women was so incredible.

There are two different POVs in this book and I think they deserve completely different ratings.

Charlie - 1 star
This is exactly how you DO NOT write a historical fiction character. Charlie has the mindset of a woman living in 2022, and not only does it not fit into the story being told, it's freaking annoying. Her background in math is used to make her seem different and her “little problem” (as she refers to her pregnancy through the entire damn novel) really makes her stand out as not just an annoying character but a childish one. I skimmed and skipped entire chapters of hers. Even the plot with her trying to find her (also pregnant?) cousin, Rose, is boring and unbelievable. The author likes to remind us regularly through Charlie's story that women were hated and could do nothing during this period - but don't worry, Charlie isn't like those regular girls!

Eve - 3 stars
I liked her story more but not by much. In the end, her trauma turns into something that SORT OF looks like PTSD, but the author seems to think drinking = PTSD symptom and throws in a few night terrors for good measure. She simply cannot be a good spy, but she also has to bend from “proper” behavior to conform to a “man's world” and it's just exhausting. Why can't she just be a badass on her own?

Frankly, this whole book feels a bit immature and unfinished. It's got a good idea and the plot is there, but it's over explained and really hits hard at the feminist view too strongly for this time in history. There are inaccuracies in the history, the characters are plain boring and for being based off true events, it all feels disjointed. There are too many great books written about women's roles in WWI and WWII for this to be a “must read” for this genre. I'd recommend skipping it and going with “All the Light They Cannot See” if you want a solid character story from multiple perspectives set in a similar time.

I'm not a fan of books that jump back and forth in time so wasn't sure how I was going to like reading this. I saw a note someone had written on a piece of paper at the front of the library book and it said this person had read all of Eve's story up to page 440 and then gone back and read Charlie's story up to page 440 and then read the book normally. I decided to do that too and I think it was an awesome way to do it and so glad I saw the suggestion. I really enjoyed this book! I was reading it as part of a challenge but so glad I did! It's amazing to think it is based on true events (The Alice Network) and a real person Louise de Bettignies who played a part in the story (although she wasn't one of the main characters in this story). I would totally recommend this book to read!

In this book, we follow two timelines- one in 1915 during WWI and one in 1947, shortly after WWII. In the former timeline we follow Eve, a young girl with a stammer who is recruited to join The Alice Network, a network of female spies working against the Germans. In 1947 we follow Charlie St. Claire, a pregnant 19 year old American who comes to France looking for her cousin Rose who went missing during WWII. Charlie meets an older Eve and the two stories work in tandem.

This book was good. I appreciated the real life aspects of this book, and how Quinn took little bits of history and expanded them into full fledged characters and plots. Charlie, however, was a very unlikeable person to be in the headspace of and I didn't particularly think she was written well- she's good with numbers and sees everything in life as some sort of “equation” - solve for X. I'm sure people like this exist, but her thought process struck me as something someone would put in a book and not how an actual person would think constantly. Her love story is also fairly uninteresting, even for romances, and her relationship with Eve develops inorganically in my opinion.

Everything to do with Eve, though, was fantastic, both in 1915 and in the 1947 timeline. Eve was a great character and it's a shame she's fictional. This book did alert me to the real life Alice Dubois though, who ran the Alice Network and was a pretty heroic and relatively unknown figure from WWI. This book is worth reading for Eve and Alice (codename “Lili” for most of this book) alone.

As a fan of historical fiction, I was really excited to read this book. I decided to listen to it an audio this month, and I am so glad I did. This is a beautiful story of the bravery of women during wartime and beyond.

This story follows two timelines, one during WWI and one after the end of WWII. Eve is a British spy in France during the first world war, and she tells the story of her experience. Charlie is an young American woman looking for answer about what happened to her cousin during the second world war. The two women's lives become entwined as they each search for someone from their past in an attempt to heal something within themselves.

I absolutely loved Eve's story. It was completely engrossing. She risks so much as a spy because she wants to make a difference and help save the world from Nazi tyranny. My heart broke for her while reading the horrible things that happened to her. I was inspired by her strength in the face of great adversity. Her story is one that will stick with me after reading. I know she's a fictional character, but she represents real women that risked their lives to help defeat Germany during both world wars. We all owe them a debt of gratitude.

I also enjoyed Charlie's story. Her struggles are very different from Eve's, but she ends up showing a strength that is just admirable. As an unwed young mother-to-be, she struggles to figure out what direction her life will take. She fights against the barriers she encounters just because she's a woman. She has to lie in order to so, but it is necessary at that time in history. Her love for her cousin Rose and her desire to find out the truth are both attributes that I respect. And I absolutely loved seeing the relationship develop between her and Finn.

All of the main characters in this book see themselves as “broken” in some way. I think the author wants us to recognize, though, that they are not broken. They have faced difficult situations and made some questionable choices, but they are intact. They come out of them in one piece and possibly even better for having experienced them. I think that's a good message.

There's so much more I could say about this book, but I'll just conclude by encouraging you to read it for yourself. It's a moving, poignant read that you will enjoy spending time with.

This was such an enjoyable novel. I was gripped with the stories of Eve and Charlie from the very beginning. The story alternates between Eve's memories during WW1 of her time in “The Alice Network”, a network of female spies, and Charlie's time during 1947 as she meets Eve and begins searching for her dear cousin Rose who went missing during WW2.

As the two meet and begin the search for Rose they embark on a journey of kinship and transformation filled with Eve's courageous tales and the ghosts that haunt her. Definitely a book worth reading.

My first read my Kate Quinn and just wow... absolutely amazing...

Women in war has become one of my favorite subjects to read about. During that time women were overlooked as too soft and not cunning or smart enough but some of the best spies were just that...women.

I honestly don't know if I would have the strength and fearless nature the women in this book, and others I've read, had. These are absolutely amazing and terrifying stories of how they lived, what they did, and sadly how they were forgotten.

The acknowledgements at the end of this is worth reading as it gives the facts of the spies and the network used to create this amazing book. Go read this.