I listened to this one on Audible – figured it’s the kind of story I’m usually interested in but also am more hesitant to pick up nowadays because the genre does sometimes blend together so it seemed like the perfect selection for, “damn, how did I end up with so many Audible credits, I have no idea what I want!” The novel begins in 1947 with nineteen-year-old Charlie on her way to Switzerland for a procedure to take care of “her little problem.” The last […]
“Welcome to real spy work. Mostly tedious, occasionally exhilarating.”
I have been waiting to read The Alice Network for what feels like forever. I nearly bought it despite having an ever growing TBR pile on my bookshelves that I promised myself (well, really my husband) I’d pare down before buying anything new. Either way I’m glad I held out because I actually got my hands on the audio version through the library and it was a great listen. Kate Quinn weaves real history, namely Louise de Bettignies and her network of female spies, with fiction into a […]
Women & Espionage in the World Wars
The Alice Network by Kate Quinn is an ambitious work of historical fiction that straddles two world wars and their aftermath, and that shines a light on the heroic work of female spies. Quinn uses a solid base of historical fact and real people to create her fictional heroine Eve (aka Evelyn Gardiner, aka Marguerite Le Francois), a spy for England in WWI who made shattering sacrifices and has never healed from her tragic and brutal experiences. Eve is an alcoholic recluse when, in the […]