The Alice Network by Kate Quinn
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I have found myself reading quite a few women-during-wars books lately. Historical fiction draws me in every time, but not every book makes the deep impression that the Alice Network made.
Wonder if this book could be for you? I enjoyed the Lilac Girls and The Nightingale, but could not force myself to slog through the Zookeeper’s Wife. I learned about The Alice Network in the Goodreads newsletter after finishing the Lilac Girls–one of those “What next?” suggestions. I also think the What Should I Read Next? podcast mentioned this one and it landed on my list. So, if you have found gems on the shelves that way, you definitely will find this book a worthwhile read.
The book focuses on the intersection between three people from very different backgrounds who intersect and form an unlikely traveling trio. Eve, a woman who fights her demons through self-medication; Charlotte “Charlie”, a young American socialite fallen from grace, and Finn, the rakishly handsome Scotsman with demons of his own.
The story glides seamlessly between Eve’s time as a member of a ring of female spies, and thirty years later when Charlie arrives on her doorstep looking for answers surrounding her beloved, missing cousin. The two women clash at first, but Charlie quickly scrambles to her figurative feet and seems to form a tenuous connection with the predictably unpredictable Eve. Finn provides transportation, protection, and the Scottish charm that Eve learned she loved in her espionage days.
If rough language is a problem for you, please know this book contains its fair share. I did not find it distracting or unnecessary. The instances involving sex were not too explicit nor were they gratuitous. The violence and recounted scenes of war were the hardest parts of this book to read. Scenes near the end of Eve’s spy career made my stomach turn and I audibly groaned reading some pages–but again, I found them necessary to fully appreciate the depth of the emotions surrounding the activities taking place in the “present day” 1940’s sections of the book.
This book stands above many I have read this year and will likely go down as a favorite from my 2017 reads. I definitely recommend it.
