Author: Kate Quinn
Performed by Saskia Maarleveld
Published by HarperAudio and William Morrow Paperbacks in July 2017
Category: Historical Fiction based on Fact, WW1
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
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.
It’s 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.
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, code name Alice, the “queen of spies”, who manages a vast network of secret agents right under the enemy’s nose.
The Alice Network was inspired by real events and a real network of women spies who worked for Britain in France during WW1, including Louise de Bettignies, a French secret agent whose code name was Alice Dubois and who earned the name The Queen of Spies. I hadn’t realised how much of the story was based on true events and people until I read the author’s notes. The extracts from letters are heart breaking.
The novel alternates between Charlie Sinclair in 1947 and Eve Gardiner in 1915. Eve is the character who ties the two timelines together.
Charlie St Clair had been on her way to Europe with her mother to have ‘a little problem’ sorted out so she could return home with no-one the wiser. She was unmarried and pregnant, something her parents weren’t about to condone. Charlie, however, had other ideas. She was determined to see if she could find her cousin, Rose, who went missing during the war. Rose was in France during the occupation and Charlie was desperate to know if she had survived. She gave her mother the slip in London and went in search of the one person she knew of that might have some knowledge of what happened to Rose.
Her voice was low, graveled, slurred, ferocious. “Who are you, and what the bloody fuck are you doing in my house?”
The streetlamps sent a blurry light through the curtains, half-illuminating the dark hallway. I could see a tall gaunt figure, a straggle of hair, the fiery end of a lit cigarette. The gleam of light off a pistol barrel, pointing straight at me.
In 1915 Eve Gardiner longed to join the fight against the Germans. Her multilingual talents, English, French and German, secured her recruitment as a spy and she was sent to German occupied Lille, where she was under the supervision of the charismatic Lili who headed the spy network. Eve managed to secure a job in a restaurant frequented by German soldiers, despite her stammer, which actually worked in her favour by making people jump to the conclusion she was someone who was less than intelligent which, of course, was far from the truth.
I enjoyed both timelines, particularly Eve’s story as it unfolded as I couldn’t envisage what had turned her into the person Charlie met or how it would end. Charlie’s character evolved fairly quickly from the slightly dull girl we first encounter, being dragged along by her mother who is only concerned with appearances and social status, to someone with much more spirit, standing up for herself and making her own decisions.
The Alice Network gives a deep understanding and appreciation of what those brave women did for Britain during WW1, along with a compelling narrative, characters who were navigating their own journeys, dealing with personal traumas and conflicts, and lots of emotion. It’s a fascinating story and highlights the courage and strength of character those women must have had.
What did it matter if something scared you, when it simply had to be done?
I alternated between listening and reading. I’m glad I had the book as well as the author’s notes weren’t included in the audio version.
