The Alice Network: A Novel by Kate Quinn (Epub)

Description

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.

“Both funny and heartbreaking, this epic journey of two courageous women is an unforgettable tale of little-known wartime glory and sacrifice. Quinn knocks it out of the park with this spectacular book!”—Stephanie Dray, New York Times bestselling author of America’s First Daughter

User’s Reviews

Review “The Alice Network has history, suspense, romance and women kicking butt. I couldn’t put it down.” — NPR Books“This fast-paced story offers courageous heroines, villains you love to hate, and dramatic life-or-death stakes. A compelling blend of historical fiction, mystery, and women’s fiction, Quinn’s complex story and engaging characters have something to offer just about everyone.” — Library Journal (starred review)“Amazing historical fiction… a must read!” — Historical Novel Society“Kate Quinn announces herself as one of the best artists of the genre. The plotting is seamless, the pace breathtaking, and the prose is both vivid and laced with just the right amount of details. Fans of historical fiction, spy fiction and thrilling drama will love every moment.” — BookPage“Lovingly crafted and brimming with details, readers are sure to be held in Quinn’s grip watching as the characters evolve. Powerful reading you can’t put down!” — RT Book Reviews (top pick)“Kate Quinn delivers an enthralling tale filled with breath-taking narrative that will make the reader feel as if they’re in the back of the roadster, riding along with the raucous Eve and courageous Charlie on their clandestine adventures. Suspenseful and engrossing, THE ALICE NETWORK is a must-read!” — Heather Webb, Author of Rodin’s Lover“Kate Quinn strums the chords of every human emotion with two storylines that race over continents and through decades to converge in one explosive ending.” — Marci Jefferson, author of Enchantress of Paris“The Alice Network… perfectly balances a propulsive plot, faultlessly observed period detail, and a cast of characters so vividly drawn that I half expected to blink and see them standing in front of me. This is historical fiction at its best–thrilling, affecting, revelatory.” — Jennifer Robson, international bestselling author of Moonlight Over Paris“Both funny and heartbreaking, this epic journey of two courageous women is an unforgettable tale of little-known wartime glory and sacrifice. Quinn knocks it out of the park with this spectacular book!” — Stephanie Dray, author of America’s First Daughter“A powerful story filled with daring and intrigue, The Alice Network will hook readers from the first page and take them on an unforgettable journey.” — Chanel Cleeton, author of Next Year in Havana –This text refers to the mass_market edition.

Reviews from Amazon users, collected at the time the book is getting published on UniedVRG. It can be related to shiping or paper quality instead of the book content:

⭐ American author Kate Quinn’s new historical novel “The Alice Network”, is set in two times – 1915 and 1947 – and the two stories are told in alternating chapters. The first one is told in the third person, while the second is told in the first person. That’s a tricky maneuver for the best writer, but Quinn carries off one section quite well, while doing not as well in the other. The first story is about a British spy network – the “Alice Network” -operating in German-occupied northwestern France. Most of the agents were women and they were led by a real character, Louise de Bettignies, whose code name was “Lili”. She was joined by fictional British/French Evelyn Gardiner, whose code name was “Marguerite”. Marguerite was posted to work in a French collaborator’s restaurant in Lille, serving the German diners and picking up tidbits along the way she’d pass to Lili, her British handler.The second story is set in 1947 and is the story about Evelyn Gardiner – now aged – and Charlotte St Clair – a 19 year old American who has come over to France with her mother to obtain a safe, legal abortion in Switzerland. She meets up with Eve and Eve’s chauffeur, a Scot soldier named Finn. They are all looking for something, someone, in post-WW2 France. The second part is definitely the weaker of the two sections. Somehow, Eve – who was drawn really well in the first section – has devolved a bit into a caricature in this section and neither Finn or Charlie seem too real, either. I’m giving the book 4 stars because the first part is 5 star, while the second is 3 star.By the way, Kate Quinn writes about a real incident that happened in a small town outside of Limoges a few days after the DDay landings in Normandy. The Germans destroyed a village called Oradour-sur-Glane and murdered most of the residents. All told, over 600 people were murdered by a detachment of the Waffin-SS, who were looking for French partisans, supposedly operating out of the village. If you’re interested in knowing more about this heinous crime, please look into Ethan Mordden’s marvelous short novel, “One Day in France”. It was published in 2015 and is still in print.

⭐ It is an entertaining book and I enjoyed reading it, but I gave it only 3 stars because it has incongruences and a all-is-well one-star end.It is the story of 2 women, 2 wars and one nasty male traitor.Eve and her story in WWI is well written and very engaging. I admired how the author could recreate masterfully the atmosphere of occupied France and the life of a female secret agent who was working to spy on the German invaders. The male French collaborateur is also well depicted. Eve and her challenges are all real. The decadent verses of Bodelaire echoe in the air. I went to re-read “Les Fleurs du Mal”. The predator -prey relationship is artistically defined.The story of Charlie, on the other hand, is weaker and tainted by an unrealistic modern American feministic approach. She is the second protagonist of this book: underaged, pregnant and searching for a purpose in life, she goes on a quest all by herself, against the wishes of a pathetic mother, trying to clarify what happened to her beloved cousin who disappeared during WWII. She’s more predictable and less real. No girl in those days would find liberation and consolation to a PTSD by sleeping with all her university pals. Sex and self liberation were not connected.Her mother is more of a caricature of the ideal idiotic burgeoise maman than a true character. The Scottish hunk who accompanies both ladies in their quest is a little bit of a joke, a candy for dreaming housewives. It seems to spring out of one of those cheap romantic novels which you buy at gas stations and corner stores. The illustration on the cover would portray this handsome shirtless mechanic passionately embracing the beautiful young girl in the rear of a stunning 1900’s collector car.The grand finale is bombastically unreal. It seems out of a Far West movie. In a nutshell: half of this book was truly great, the other half was a disappoiniment. Perhaps this stems from the fact that I had the privilege of hearing first hand stories from real French, Italian and German women, who lived during WWII and whose mothers lived during the previous war. This talented but somehow naive author seems to have grasped some of the truths of what happened and how people were during those days, but her modern North American cultural approach reveals that she has more groundwork to do.Personally, I found the end a literay mistake: unrealistic, rushed, over optimistic and somewhat childish.

⭐ The premise was good but the feminist viewpoint was literally shoved down your throat. Constant references to how women didn’t have the same rights and over exaggeration of how it was. It was a different time and you cannot judge the past by today’s standards though the author repeatedly does. The main character is a total tramp who sleeps with multiple men and doesn’t know the father of her baby. She then makes excuses for her behavior and acts angry when people treat her like a tramp??!! I mean what did she expect? The whole thing was infuriating and I couldn’t finish it. The down your throat feminist ruined this story.

⭐ This book was painful to read. I had to force myself through the text to justify my purchase, but I was completely disappointed from the onset with the narration, the characters, and the overall plot. I love historical fiction, and I love spy books, so this book seemed like it would be a win for me. Turns out, while the book boasts to be historical fiction about a spy network during WWI, what it actually is, is cheesy chick-lit. Everything down the the heroine’s name (Charlotte “Charlie” St. Clair- really?) is frivolous. Charlie’s chapters rendered her very unlikable to me, though I imagine the goal was to make her come across as cheeky and independent, I just thought it was trite. Really, I found the story line could have been compelling if I wasn’t so distracted by the terrible writing style that screamed of super market romance novel. Bottom line- I hated this book.

⭐ I did not like this book at all. It’s a story that moves back and forth from the past (WWI) and the present (1947). The modern story is annoying and unrealistic with characters so unbelievable they are insipid, with a plot that is so contrived it’s just dumb. The past is distorted enough that instead of learning about some truly amazing female spies for the Allies it does them no justice, as so many unrealistic characters and stories are added they detract from the real story. I would have loved to read either a non-fiction or a good historical fiction about the Alice Network spy ring which is real and deserves to have it heroines lauded. This book is an insult to the brave women (and a few men) who were part of the Alice Network. Get a good history book instead and learn the amazing truth.

⭐ Outstanding and mesmerizing are the two words that first came to mind as I finished The Alice Network by Kate Quinn. This story is wonderfully written with deep, rich and complex characters. With great details along with solid writing, Ms. Quinn expertly brought this amazing story to life. This story kept me deeply engrossed with thrilling suspense, intriguing espionage and heartbreaking moments. I’m normally not a fan of historical fiction of this time period (specifically WWI and WW2), but I could not put this book down for a second.In addition to reading this book, I listened to it as an audio book. The narrator, Saskia Maarleveld, did an AMAZING job with the characters and their accents. The character’s personalities and the story itself truly came to life with Maarleveld’s performance and took this already great story to another level of grandness that was unsurpassed.Overall, this was an amazing story that truly is a must read for any fan of historical fiction and one that I would highly recommend.

⭐ I LOVED this book! Although a work of fiction, it is based upon real people and events that took place during World War I. The Alice Network was a group of British female spies stationed in occuppied France who gathered information on German troops, their movements, and battle plans. This information was shared with Britain as strove to defeat the Germans. The women comprising the Alice Network were clever, cunning, quick on their feet, and beyond brave. They willingly embraced danger, adversity, and the threat of death because this was the only way they could “fight” in the war on behalf of their respective country.The author tells the story going between World War I (1915) and 1947, not quite two years after the end of World War II. She bridges the two time frames through her well-developed characters and their individual stories. The story opens in 1947 in post war England. We are introduced to Eve Gardiner, a former member of the Alice Network. Eve drinks too much in an effort to escape the demons of her past. She spends her days and nights in her worn London home. Eve has hired Finn, a Scotsman, a World War II vet and an ex-convict. Today we would say that he suffers from PTSD. Finn runs Eve’s errands, keeps her supplied with whisky, cooks for her, and nightly removes the bullets from her Luger so that she does not use them on herself.Next enters Charlotte St. Clair, an American college aged student who is traveling with her mother to France and Switzerland. Charlotte, or Charlie as she is called, has disgraced her parents by coming home from college pregnant. She and her mother are headed to Switerland take care of the “little problem.” After Switzerland, they will spend time in Paris. But Charlie has other plans. Charlie’s mother is French and prior to the war, the family spent part of their summers in France with her mother’s sister’s family. Charlie and her cousin Rose were closer than sisters, but Rose disappeared during the war.Charlie’s father is an attorney who practices International Law. Through his overseas contacts he is able to trace Rose to a town in France but can find no trace of her thereafter. Charlie is convinced that Rose is still alive and is determined to find the truth for herself. Having spent time during vacations, holidays, and summers working in her father’s law offices, she has learned a thing or two. Unbeknownst to her mother, she has a scrap of paper containing a name and address. Charlie prays that this person will be able to provide her with information that will assist her in her search for Rose. That name is Eve Gardiner.What follows is a wonderfully told story and a real page turner. If you don’t read anything else this year, do yourself a huge favor and read The Alice Network.

⭐ I enjoy books that deal with WW I and WW II. This book appealed to me as it supposedly centered on women spies during WW I. a subject that was new to me. I was thoroughly disappointed in the book. It is divided into two time periods- WW I and post-WW II. The character Eve shows up in both parts and the insipid character Charlie shows up in the post-WW II section. I found the WW I section to be interesting enough to keep my attention but the parts that involved the character Charlie were just too annoying and hard to believe. At times the book read like a bad harlequin romance. All the men seemed to be tall and lanky with big hands and long fingers…and Charlie and her “lp” – little problem – contributed very little to the story. What a vacuous character! I was expecting a solid read about WW I female spy network but instead, got a trite romance. Had the Charlie section been omitted, and the book focused squarely on Eve and the spy network, Quinn might have saved the book Instead, she did a disservice to those women who actually did risk their lives as spies during WW I. I am still shaking my head over reviews that touted this book as “powerful reading,” “spectacular,” “breath- taking” (yes, two words!) “epic”, “unforgettable,” “complex,” “compelling” and “amazing,” to name a few. Well, I feel “compelled” to tell you to avoid this book. It is “amazing” to me that it got so many high reviews. It is an “epic” fail to me. This is my first book by Kate Quinn and it is definitely my last.

⭐ I began reading it…it seemed good, and then I got to a character that used what I would consider raunchy language. Realizing I was going to be subjecting my mind to this throughout the book, I put it down and refused to read another word. I wish there was a rating for books, as I’m very disappointed in my reading choice this time and wished I’d promptly returned it. I’m sure most people would not have a problem with this, but I do.

⭐ This book fell short for me. The background of the actual women’s spy ring, the Alice network, could have made a good book, and that part was interesting. The characters, however, were so harlequin romance types that it was very unbelievable. The way they called themselves trashy names and seemed to have no self-respect or self-esteem and ready to fall into bed with the next character made me cringe. I like a good historical fiction book, and this wasn’t it.

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