The Alice Network
"It's 1947 and American college girl Charlie St. Clair is pregnant, unmarried, and on the verge of being thrown out of her very proper family. She's also nursing a fervent belief that her beloved French cousin Rose, who disappeared in Nazi-occupied France during the war, might still be alive somewhere. So when Charlie's family banishes her to Europe to have her "little problem" take care of, Charlie breaks free and heads to London determined to find out what happened to the cousin she loves like a sister. In 1915, Eve Gardiner burns to join the fight against the Germans and unexpectedly gets her chance to serve when she's recruited to work as a spy for the English. Sent into enemy-occupied France during The Great War, she's trained by the mesmerizing Lili, the "Queen of Spies", who manages a vast network of secret agents, right under the enemy's nose. Thirty years later, haunted by the betrayal that ultimately tore apart the Alice Network, Eve spends her days drunk and secluded in her crumbling London house. Until a young American barges in uttering a name Eve hasn't heard in decades, and launching them both on a mission to find the truth ... no matter where it leads"--
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What you might want to know about The Alice Network
The questions readers send us most often, answered without spoilers.
In 1947, pregnant American socialite Charlie St. Clair tracks down ex-spy Eve Gardiner in London to help find her missing French cousin. Eve was part of the real Alice Network of women spies in WWI France.
Yes. The Alice Network is fictional but built around the real Alice Network of British and French women who spied on the Germans during World War I. Kate Quinn researched the documented network extensively.
No. The Alice Network is a standalone, but Kate Quinn has written several other historical novels including The Huntress, The Rose Code, The Diamond Eye, and The Briar Club, all standalones.
The Alice Network was written by Kate Quinn, published in 2017 by William Morrow.
The Alice Network is 444 pages in standard print editions, though page counts vary slightly between hardcover, paperback, and large-print formats.
At an average reading pace of about 250 words per minute, The Alice Network takes most readers 7 to 10 hours to finish.
The Alice Network is a standalone novel by Kate Quinn, not part of a series.
The Alice Network is available in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats from Amazon, Bookshop.org, ThriftBooks, and most major bookstores.