The Alice Network in Reading with Style

Feb 17, 2019 Nancy rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2019-books, waiting-challenge, 80-countries

I love it when historical fiction enlightens me on a place or an event I've been unaware of. I knew nothing about the women who were spies in WWI. This book follows the story of Eve Gardiner who was inducted into the Alice Network, a spy network consisting of women, during WWI. There are two stories being told within the book. One story takes place in 1915 during WWI and other is set in 1947, two years after WWII. Eve Gardiner plays a role in both stories. I was impressed how the author included ...more

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Feb 02, 2023 Elizabeth (Alaska) rated it really liked it

Shelves: from-friends, women, world-war-one, twenty-first-century, world-war-two, historical-fiction, jumbo

This is good historical fiction with more than a trace of fact. This is a dual timeline novel where we are dropped into the early days of World War I and also a couple of years post World War II.

The fictional characters meet in this latter timeline. Charlie St. Clair seeks out Eve Gardiner in her quest to find her cousin Rose who stopped writing to the family in 1944. At first meeting, Eve is well on her way to being stone drunk. Eve is also walking around with a Luger and seems very willing to ...more

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Nov 09, 2018 Penny (Literary Hoarders) added it · review of another edition

Shelves: from-windsor-public-library, books-read-in-2018, audiobook, dnf

I'm going to (sadly) put this in the DNF pile. For two reasons, one is that I really wasn't enjoying the audio narration to be honest. Saskia Maarleveld has too much of a breathy voice and the accents, especially the French ones, were becoming almost comical and over-done (same issue I had when listening to The Nightingale). Secondly, and this is the reason why I'm not even going to try to continue enduring the narration is because the character Charlie did something so completely stupid, it was ...more

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Sep 29, 2019 Emily rated it it was amazing

Moving back and forth in time between WWI and just after WWII, the Alice Network tells of Eve's experiences as a spy in German-occupied France and Charlie's enlistment of Eve's help to find her cousin Rose who went missing during the second war. Eve was damaged physically, mentally and emotionally by performing her loyal service to her country and is consumed by desire for revenge against the man who did most of the damage. Charlie is also trying to figure out who she is as a woman during a time ...more

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Oct 23, 2023 Tobey rated it really liked it

Shelves: tbd, 2023

There's something about historical war fiction that really gets me. You really see the worst - and sometimes best - of human nature in these books.

The dual timeline of this book I found extremely easy to follow and while some parts of the stories due to the time they were set in, were disturbing or maybe just not what I'm used to, both stories were gripping and engaging. ...more

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Jun 10, 2022 Kim rated it really liked it

Shelves: europe, historical-fiction, libby, 1000books, war

This joins the growing collection of women wartime heroes books that I've been reading over the past few years, including The Book of Lost Names, The Nightingale and Madame Fourcade's Secret War: The Daring Young Woman Who Led France's Largest Spy Network Against Hitler, to name a few. This book tells the story of Eve, a member of the Alice Network of women spies during World War I, who contributed valuable information on enemy movements and plans, while posing as an unassuming innocent. I enjoy ...more

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