The Alice Network by Kate Quinn (2017 fiction)
In post-war 1947, pregnant American college student Charlie St. Clair is sent to Europe to have her “little problem” taken care of. Her beloved cousin Rose disappeared in Nazi-occupied France during the war, and, harboring a faint hope that Rose can be found alive, Charlie obtains the name of Eve Gardiner as someone who might be able to help. Leaving her mother at their hotel, Charlie takes off for London, finds the crusty and reluctant Eve Gardiner and her ex-convict man of work, and the three set off on an adventure to France to look for Rose. In flashbacks to 1915, we learn Eve’s story as an English spy during World War I and her courageous work with a female spy group, The Alice Network. The two stories merge when it appears that the same French collaborator who helped the Germans in World War I and the Nazis in World War II may be involved not only in Eve’s past but also in Rose’s disappearance. By turns funny and suspenseful, this story is made all the more incredible because it is based on the true stories of female operatives in World War I. This is one of those books that I wished would go on a bit longer. Recommended.
Reviewed by Ginger Russell
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