The Alice Network: A Novel

I give this book 4 stars as I can't give 3½. The story of Eve during WW1 is very interesting, and even more so when you get to the end and read the author's notes about the spy networks and the input of the women involved. The 1947 'lead', Charlie, is a spoiled brat who acts like one most of the time. And a calculus student who makes up silly equations. What was that about? I also had issues with some of the social history aspects - food and prices, and petrol and travel during the immediate post-war years were the main ones. Bread was still on ration in 1954 for example. American authors may do their research but they never seem to get Europe and UK quite right. Pavement please, not boardwalk. Read like a YA rather than a full adult book to me.

This novel alternates between two time periods with one of the main characters, Eve, as the link between the two. The earlier period focuses on her time as an English spy working in German-occupied France as part of The Alice Network in the First World War. The novel goes back and forth to the events of 1915 from 1947 when an American girl, Charlotte, is looking for a missing relative. She tracks down Eve whose name she has been given as a possible lead and they form an alliance to seek out the truth. As the novel progresses, I warmed to Eve in the same way that Charlotte does, and the author skilfully builds up this relationship as well as Charlotte's relationship with Eve's driver. It is well written with good historical accuracy and themes of the emotional as well as physical damage from war, as well as love, guilt and revenge. I couldn't put it down when I nearer end the end as I needed to know what happened! Always a good sign!! I've given this a four star instead of five only because I felt the story about Charlie and Finn, whilst enjoyable, was a little predictable.

The Alice Network is a dual timeline spy thriller. When World War One broke out, Eve yearned to take part. Raised by dual nationality parents and brought up in a French town where she also picked up a third language, Eve became an ideal recruit for Britain’s spy network. In 1947 Charlie St. Clair, an American teenager, comes to Britain searching for a woman who might be able to help her find her French cousin who disappeared during the Second World War. In London, she discovers a broken and grieving woman who finds nightly solace in a bottle of whisky. As the story unfolds, Eve and Charlie connect and we are drawn into a tale of the Alice Network, one of the most successful spy rings of the first World War. I’m so glad that I finally got to read this book. I’m a fan of well-written and atmospheric stories of espionage, particularly set during war times. The dual timeline worked well and I was equally invested in both women's stories. It was one of those books that I didn’t want to end. The author’s notes at the back were also particularly interesting, giving a little more insight into the true events of the time. Overall, give this a go if you enjoy books about women's roles during World War One.

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.