Kate Quinn is a beloved author by many readers and bloggers. However, I hadn’t read any book by her yet, so I thought 2025 would be the year to discover her work. One of her most popular titles is The Alice Network, so I decided that this would be my introduction to this author’s work. Was this a good start?

About the book

The Alice Network by Kate Quinn
Published by William Morrow on June 6, 2017
Pages: 503
ISBN: 9780062654199
Genres: Adult, Historical fiction
Rating: 6.5/10

1947. In the chaotic aftermath of World War II, 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 desperate hope that her beloved cousin Rose, who disappeared in Nazi-occupied France during the war, might still be alive. So when Charlie’s parents banish her to Europe to have her “little problem” taken care of, Charlie breaks free and heads to London, determined to find out what happened to the cousin she loves like a sister.
1915. A year into the Great War, Eve Gardiner burns to join the fight against the Germans and unexpectedly gets her chance when she’s recruited to work as a spy. Sent into enemy-occupied France, 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 launches them both on a mission to find the truth …no matter where it leads.

My review

Before reading

Historical fiction is a genre I really do appreciate. However, there are so many options that I by far haven’t read everything possible. I think this would be impossible too as not all topics within the genre pique my interest. I’ve been seeing The Alice Network being mentioned countless times by fellow bloggers, so that was definitely my queue to check it out sometime. This might sound strange to say, but books set during WWI don’t sound too appealing to me, as this world war sound far more distant than WWII. Probably because the Netherlands has been affected much less by this First World War. As this novel is mostly set during 1915-1916, this war would be pretty dominant. Furthermore, this book is pretty popular as mentioned before, which automatically increases my expectations. These were higher than they normally would be.

Characters

The characters are quite interesting. We follow both Evelyn Gardiner and Charlotte St. Clair, who both have a story to tell. However, Eve’s timeline in the past is much more compelling than Charlotte’s in the “present”. Eve’s story is set during WWI, whereas we get to know Charlotte in 1947. Both women bare scars and trauma, but we don’t know the extend of them yet. Gradually, we learn how Eve’s and Charlotte’s lives intertwine. This is paired with some character growth for both of them. However, it was hard to empathize with Charlotte at first, especially for how she deals with certain stuff that is being revealed in the book. Eve seems pretty distant as well, but she has obvious reasons for keeping her guard up. Once the story progresses, her character undergoes multiple transformations, which are all logical in light of everything she has endured. Besides these women, there is a secondary character who still remains quite mysterious. His name is Finn and he happens to become the love interest for one of these women. This aspect is pretty unnecessary in my opinion as it doesn’t add up to the storyline itself, although I can’t deny its convenience for the concerned character. If I have to choose my favorite character, I have to pick Eve because of the growth she shows and her story itself being genuinely more interesting than Charlotte’s.

Writing

Besides connecting to the characters, I also had a tougher time than expected with the writing. Quinn’s writing style is not essentially different from other historical fiction books, but when the characters aren’t too convincing, the writing automatically isn’t either. It takes a while for the story to pick up, but once it does, I found it hard to put down. POVs are switched every chapter, which provides an interesting way for the reader to put all puzzle pieces together. These switches are indicated clearly. However, the chapter length is pretty uneven. Whereas Eve’s chapters are relatively long, Charlotte’s are relatively short. In hindsight, I think this is more of a plot issue instead of a mere writing one though.

Plot

As often is the case with historical fiction, this one provides a dual timeline narrative as well. Most times, the past timeline is more compelling than the present one and this is no different here. What ruins this book a bit for me is the romance aspect, which was totally unnecessary. Although I can’t deny its convenience for the concerned character’s storyline, it still feels pretty unbelievable and rushed. There was not a build-up before they got involved with one another. No, I was much more intrigued by Eve’s timeline and her being a very important spy during WWI. Quinn shows how trauma can still affect people decades later, because Eve is still dealing with her demons every single day, to the point it still affects her day-to-day life in 1947. Charlotte’s storyline addresses some important issues as well, but I get the feeling that this character and narrative has only been put in to give more exposure to Eve’s war traumas. This book is based on real life historical figures and the author explains all her research in the author’s note at the end of the book. There has been some extended research involved, but this still doesn’t disguise the fact that I found the present timeline pretty unnecessary.

Final thoughts

My expectations for The Alice Network by Kate Quinn were pretty high as this book is beloved by many fellow bloggers. Although I enjoyed my time reading it, this novel didn’t manage to fully convince me. I find the past timeline far more interesting than the second one set in 1947, but this comes as no surprise for me. Quinn addresses some important themes, which build a solid connection between those timelines. The characters show significant growth, one more than the other. However, the romance aspect ruins the vibe for me and feels pretty unnecessary. This book could have done without Charlotte’s timeline and this romance in my opinion, it would have been much more intriguing then. Still, I want to give this author a fair chance and I will therefore be reading another of her books. Unfortunately, this highly popular book just didn’t captivate me enough.