Book Review: The Alice Network by Kate Quinn

*Warning: Spoilers Ahead!!*

As I mentioned the other day, it has now been over 6 weeks since I've been at home isolating due to the coronavirus.  I expected I would do a lot of reading during this time.  Oddly, I have not.  I still read my usual amount - a chapter or so before bed - but I haven't really sat down and spent long periods of time reading.  I've just been too antsy and distracted.

I had started reading The Alice Network by Kate Quinn before the pandemic lockdowns and stay-at-home orders hit.  While I really enjoyed this novel, and was glad to have a good book to sink into at this crazy time, it still didn't grip me the way I think it would have had I been reading it at a normal time.  I think it had the potential to be a book that really grabbed me, but because my mind was on other things, it never really had a chance.

This is the book we have slated for our October Book Club meeting.  As I read it, all I could think was, "God I hope we can have book club meetings by then."  Because, let's face it... everything is cancelled.  From now until at least the end of summer.  And with still so much unknown, we really have no idea when we will be allowed to "do things" again.  That said, I have hope that small gatherings with friends (we would rarely be more than 10 people at book club) will be allowed by then.  Fingers crossed!!!

While I wasn't able to completely immerse myself in this book, it actually was a great one to read at this time, as it reminded me there have been far greater hardships experienced in the past 100 years that having to sit at home on the couch and watch Netflix.  The story begins with young Charlie St. Clair travelling to Europe with her mother, as she has fallen pregnant and is unwed.  They are heading to Switzerland to have her "little problem" taken care of.  At least, that is her mother's plan.  Charlie has other ideas.

Set in the late 1940's, post-WWII, Charlie is intent on searching for her cousin Rose, her dearest and closest companion, who went missing during the war.  She has a scrap of paper with a name and address on it for a woman named Evelyn Gardiner, who lives in England.  She has been told Ms. Gardiner might be able to help her track down Rose.  Charlie tracks down Evelyn and also meets her handsome hired man, Finn Kilgore.  The three of them embark on an adventure as they follow Evelyn's leads in an effort to find Charlie's cousin.

While on their adventure, Charlie learns much of Eve's past, including her involvement in a network of female spies that made a huge mark during WWI. That group of women who put their lives on the line to report German secrets back to British authorities was called The Alice Network.  Eve's time spent in that role as a spy shaped the rest of her life, and while her work was remarkable and worthy of accolades, it also scarred her deeply, both physically and mentally.

This was not just a story of war and spies.  This was also a love story, as Charlie gradually falls in love with Eve's hired man, Finn, and they begin to think of a life together beyond their current escapade to find out the truth.  Eventually, Charlie is able to stop thinking of her pregnancy as a "problem" and starts envisioning a future with Finn, where he becomes a solution.

I have read several novels regarding WWII over the years, and I have to say, this has been one of my favourites.  It doesn't go into gory detail, and yet the chapter that tells the story of the French village destroyed by the Nazis filled me with horror and I can still picture it.  I was even more horrified to learn in the author's notes at the end that it was based on a true story, as were many of the events and characters in the novel.

Throughout the story, both Eve and Charlie, who the chapters revolve around back and forth in an alternating pattern, are displayed to be strong, heroic women, and they often remind themselves that they must endure.  In times of desperation over the past 6 weeks, I have echoed that word in my own mind:  Endure.

You can do this.  It will pass.  People have gone through much worse.  Hang in there.  Endure.