The Alice Network

The Alice Network by Kate Quinn

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


There are a glut of novels out there covering the horrors of war. Some good, some not so good. Some are great. For me, this one was great.
The Alice Network was real. It was a group of 100 or so spies, mostly women, headed by Louise de Bettignies, "Alice Dubouis", in Lille, France that worked to save over a 1,000 British soldiers and fed information to the British for 9 months in 1915.
Having this basis in fact, the book "The Alice Network" checked all the boxes for me:
Good, solid characters - Check
Mesmerizing plot - Check
Satisfying completion - Check
It wasn't so much about the horrors of war, but the impact that war has on the lives and souls of the people involved. It is about the profound sadness, need, and psychological pain that are the aftermath of war. It is about the ruined lives, the unfinished lives, and shattered souls.
The Alice Network brings two women together at the end of World War II. Both sad, both in need of solace and closure, both in pain. They join forces, albeit reluctantly at first, to heal the wounds left by not just WWII, but WWI as well.
This unlikely pair stole my heart. Eve, with her stutter, wounded by her past, drinking herself into oblivion, wanting to die. Charlie, with her overpowering need to find and save her cousin, lost somewhere in France during the war. Their stories weave together in a way that is amazing, but believable. Their stories made me feel. I laughed, I cried, I was repulsed, and I rooted for the heroines through several close calls with capture and even death.
It made me question "What would I do?" "Would I have the wherewithal to stand up and fight?" "Would I have the strength and courage to give up everything?"
One woman did. One woman would.







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