My favorite genres to read tend to lean toward Women's, Literary and Historical Fiction - with the majority of my time spend nose deep in a historical fiction novel. Both World War I and II are standard reading fare for me - I'm not sure what it is about that time period, but I cannot get enough. So of course, The Alice Network by Kate Quinn was perfect for me.
I loved this book so much. It was a Reese Witherspoon Book Club pick last year and I would highly recommend this to anyone who loved The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah or has enjoyed Beatriz Williams' work (one of my all time favorite authors).
The Alice Network is everything I want in a historical fiction novel. It's told in alternating voices from two very different women. Eve Gardiner in 1915 and Charlie St. Clair in 1947. Eve's chapters chronicle her time spent in the infamous "Alice Network" - based on an actual network of female spies in WWI. Her chapters were crackling, tense and full of anticipation for the next page. I couldn't tear myself away from them. Fast forward 30 years to socialite, Charlie St. Clair, who is unmarried and pregnant. Accompanied by her mother, she's en route to Switzerland with the plan of taking care of "the little problem." Little does her mother know, but Charlie has other plans and embarks on a journey to find her cousin Rose who was living in France during WWII. She's convinced that Rose must be alive and is determined to find her. When a common name and place draws Eve and Charlie together - they take off to France (along with Eve's driver, a wily Scotsman with his own secrets) to find out what happened to Rose.
This book is a triumph, it's fast paced, emotional and wonderfully written. I loved Eve and Charlie's stories so much. Both women show courage despite heartbreak and I couldn't get enough of their moxie. For those of you who like a little romance thrown in - that's there too and I couldn't get enough of it. This book is plotted beautifully - I highly recommend.
The Book Gawker's buy it or borrow it recommendation: Buy It
Buy It
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