The Alice Network by Kate Quinn

This month's book club selection is The Alice Network by Kate Quinn. Told in alternating timelines, one following Eve's story during WWI and the other following Charlie's story just after the end of WWII, both in France. Eve is a spy during the Great War, part of the Alice Network led by a woman with many aliases. Deeply imbedded in German-occupied France, Eve's job is to eavesdrop (ha!) on unsuspecting German soldiers and commanders who never even notice the small, quiet woman pouring their drinks. Thirty years later, Charlie (short for Charlotte) is searching for her lost cousin Rose and is led to the door of the now- older and painfully bitter Eve. Each with her own motivation, these women join forces in search of Rose and the man for whom she may have worked during World War Two.

I like historical fiction, but it isn't all good. Sometimes it is boring or a stretch to keep my attention. That was so not the case with The Alice Network. This book was an exciting mystery that kept me turning page after page after page. What really impressed me was how much of this story was based on fact. At the end of the book, Quinn takes pains to explain just how these women were real and all they did to further the war effort in France during two horrific German occupations. She was even able to include actual quotes by one of the characters who was less a character and more an actual historical figure written in to the novel. If this book were a movie it would absolutely be advertised with a great big

Based on Actual Events!

splashed across the trailer.

I really enjoyed this book and I think my favorite thing about it was that it was about women without being "chick lit". There are very few men in this book with important roles. This book was about women and their lives and all that some of them did during these wars and it wasn't about will he love me? or am I pretty/thin enough? It was gritty and real (quite literally) and about strong, independent women. Chick lit has its place, and sometimes I do read it, but this is the kind of book I really enjoy.

I think you will, too.