The Alice Network is a piece of historical fiction, fascinating in its characterisation, satisfying as lost pieces of old puzzles slide into place, fun to watch alliances forming, romances brewing, and bad guys suffering. I really liked The Alice Network, and to discover that it is solidly grounded in truth made it even more likeable a book. ( )

Charlotte (Charlie) St. Clair is a 19-year-old college student who is brought by her mother to have an abortion in Switzerland - the Appointment. However, she is obsessed with locating her missing cousin, Rose, who disappeared around 1944. It is now 1947. She and Rose were best friends, even though one lived in the United States and the other in France. They had spent many happy summers together in France. Instead of going to The Appointment, Charlie leaves her mother and travels to London to find Evelyn (Eve) Gardiner, the result of her searching for her cousin. She finds an older lady with damaged hands who stutters, drinks herself to sleep each evening, and threatens to shoot Charlie with a Luger if she is not gone by morning. Enter Finn Kilgore, Eve's man-of-all-work, since she cannot do a lot for herself. He cooks, fixes things, and chauffeurs her in his vintage Aston Martin Lagonda motor car. Charlie pays Eve to help her find cousin Rose. The three set off in the Logonda, crossing the Channel into France on their way to Lille to locate a colleague of Eve's, Violetta. The story is told in alternating chapters, Charlie and Eve where Charlie's chapters are in the present and Eve's chapters relate her life as a spy during World War I in Lille until she is captured. She was recruited as a spy by Captain Cecil Aylmer Cameron, who had served time in jail for fraud. Eve served as a waitress in the Le Lethe Restaurant of Monsieur René Bordelon in Lille where she listened to the German soldiers conversations and transmitted anything of interest back to England. Rene Bordelon is a German collaborator and profiteer. He takes a sexual interest in her which she also uses to acquire intelligence. The head of the Alice Network was Louise de Bettignies (Lili) and an excellent spy. She and Eve and Violetta become friends. The story continues with the three of them going from town to town searching for information about Rose and eventually about the current whereabouts of Rene Bordelon, who escaped Lille for Limoges at the end of WWI, and for Grasse after WWII where he had another Le Lethe Restaurant and continued being a collaborator and profiteer. ( )

This story is fascinating, I really enjoy how accurate the story is to the true Alice Network.
That being said, I had to struggle to read all the way through this book. It may have just been a mood thing but this was slightly boring for me. I also find Charlie to be QUITE annoying.

Her character becomes so predictable that its more fun to just skip past the sections that focus on her. Constantly sounding like an insolent teenager, yelling at people about "whore this and math that". Girl we know. ( )

Based on Real-life Alice Network in France during the war and how many heroic women were recruited as spies gathering vital information to help the war efforts. Captivating story jumping from the past and present 1947 at the end of the WW2 when an american student comes to Europe seeking her cousin Rose, who has been missing during the war with no details of how or if she perished. Charlie Sinclair (American) seeks to meet a contact who may know the where abouts of her cousin through Eve Gardner (Alice network agent) Together they join efforts seeking answers and then redemption. Great Story, Audible Listen ( )

Gripping spy story animating the life of an actual heroine (Louise de Bettignies) and her network of spies, while spinning a stirring story that dances between World Wars to unite a young lady, Charlotte, who is coming of age with a jolt (involving, among other things, a decision to be made about a “Little Problem” her family would have her waste no time in “taking care of” to avoid tattered reputations) and a suicidal older woman, Eve, caught in the grips of a past that refuses to be forgotten, in the hopes of finding Charlotte’s best friend and cousin, Rose, who disappeared into France at the height of WWII.
Sighhh, yet another author I must add to my list of “must read other works by”…’think I’ll probably also have to track down “Queen of Spies: Louise de Bettignies” by Major Thomas Coulson, 1935.
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