The Alice Network

"P.S. insights, interviews & more..."--Cover.
"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"-- Provided by publisher.

REVIEWS & SUMMARIES

COMMUNITY REVIEWS

Decent submitted by WolfWillow27994 on August 2, 2017, 9:45am Was an interesting take on WWI historical fiction.

Fun fast read submitted by jhaberich on August 7, 2018, 4:30pm This alternates between two stories and, while I found the story of the WWI spy network flashbacks much more compelling, the post WWII story was also interesting. I enjoyed reading about WWI from the perspective of the female protagonist.

Average WWII Historical Fiction submitted by jbranski on June 14, 2019, 8:49pm This book was just alright in my opinion. The plot and most of the supporting characters are excellent, but I wish there had been more depth to the characters’ who tell the story from their POV. These two characters seemed superficial and did a disservice to a compelling storyline.

Interwoven time periods give an interesting perspective submitted by JennJenn on July 31, 2020, 4:39pm I enjoyed the way this book wondering together WWI and WWIi with stories of women who made important contributions to the war efforts.

Well written submitted by biblej on June 17, 2021, 7:52pm Riveting and well written. Highly recommend.

All-female spy network submitted by vickik on August 28, 2022, 10:16am The Alice Network tells two parallel stories, in alternating chapters. One is about a young woman who worked as a spy, in an all-female spy network, in France during World War I. The other is about an American college student who goes to France shortly after World War II, to look for her French cousin who disappeared in occupied France. These two stories intersect in a powerful way and make for a very suspenseful novel.

just so-so submitted by camelsamba on July 1, 2023, 8:25pm I really enjoyed listening to The Rose Code by this author, so I had high hopes. I’ve read a lot about actual female spies during WW1 and WW2, and was hoping for more insight into those lives. We get a little bit of that in flashbacks from Eve’s story, but not enough to make up for the annoying aspects of Charlie’s story. Both women are likely suffering from mental health issues that weren’t really acknowledged in 1947 (PTSD for Eve and depression for Charlie), and their behaviors likely stem from that. It’s possible that the historical fiction component is more realistic than that in The Rose Code, but I didn’t enjoy this book nearly as much - and that’s even before I got to the torture.

Good but also slow submitted by A2AE on July 2, 2023, 6:47pm I read this after enjoying the Rose Code, but both books feel slow and unnecessarily long at times. I like the alternating perspectives and ultimately find the endings rewarding. This book did bother me because a very young female character became unexpectedly pregnant and decided to keep the baby for reasons that were unclear and irritating -- I'm tired of the, "I'm unexpectedly pregnant and want this baby more than anything" tropes for female characters, and this book suffers from that for reasons that aren't well developed.