The Alice Network

by Kate Quinn

Eve wondered how much it was possible to change in two weeks. Or was it not change, but becoming what she already was?

Boys got to do whatever they wanted, and girls got to sit around looking pretty.

putting these things on paper meant you had to unpack your own disgrace in ugly black and white.

“That doesn’t mean you were boring, ma p’tite. Just bored. Most women are bored, because being female is boring. We only get married because it’s something to do, and then we have children and find out babies are the only thing more boring than other women.”

Life ought to be more like a play; the entrances and exits would be a lot cleaner.

Why did it matter if something scared you, when it simply had to be done anyway?

“There are two kinds of flowers when it comes to women,” Eve said. “The kind that sit safe in a beautiful vase, or the kind that survive in any conditions . . . even in evil. Lili was the latter. Which are you?”