Skip to main content

The Alice Network by Kate Quinn Book Review

Reasons For Reading This Book:

While visiting my sister-in-law, who is also a reader, I was telling her about Looking For Jane by Heather Marshall and she recommended The Alice Network by Kate Quinn. She had a copy so when I visited a couple weeks later and was ready to start a new book, I borrowed her copy. When she was telling me about the book she told me it was about a female spy network during the war. Other than that I had not idea what else the book was about.

Content of This Book:

Its 1947 Charlie St. Clair is a pregnant, unmarried, American college student living in the chaotic aftermath of World War II. Due to her situation her parents have threatened to throw her out of their proper family. Charlie is desperately hoping that her cousin Rose is still alive after disappearing in Nazi-occupied France during the war. Her parent's plan is to send her to Europe to have her "little problem" taken care of, while there Charlie breaks free and heads to London, on a mission to find out what happened to Rose who she loved liked a sister. 

Its 1915, a year into the Great War, and Eve Gardiner desires to join the fight against the Germans. This desire unexpectedly gets her there through chance when she's recruited to work as a spy. She is sent into enemy-occupied France where she's trained by the mesmerizing Lili, the "Queen of Spies". Lili 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.

What I Liked About This Book:

I absolutely loved the opposing narration. I enjoyed both narrators for different reasons, but will say at times I would favor one over the other, but that was constantly switching throughout the book. Kate Quinn was able to create differentiating tones, word choice, and other characteristics that made the two narrations distinctly different from one another. Not only were the plots in the two narrations very different, but the way each narrator recalled or described events was different from the other. Another aspect of this book that I favored was how the author was able include education or teachable moments effortlessly into the narration. As someone who is a science major and not a history major I know very little about the war, but went into this book wanting to know more, and this author was able to satisfy that need of mine. Probably one of my favorite parts of this book was how fantastic the character development was. The author gave a well-rounded description of each narrator's childhood and how that played a part in who they were. I also look for the character's to grow/mature as a result of the things that happen in the plot and that was something that occurred on multiple levels throughout this book. There were many different parts of the plot that were happening simultaneously, but it never felt overwhelming and the focus was evenly split amongst them all. I will commend the author for the level of detail that they go into in this book, I will also mention it in the dislike section. For certain aspects I found it helpful and at other times I felt it was unnecessary. One part that I felt it was helpful was giving the visual description of the communities affected by the war, these descriptions have stuck with me even weeks after having finished reading the book. One last compliment I will give Kate Quinn is their ability for me to feel every possible emotion while reading this book. At times I was smiling ear-to-ear, other times I teary eyed, and other times my heart was aching. While reading this book I truly empathetic for these characters and very much enjoyed my time with them.

What I Disliked About This Book:

I will say that this book is long in length and that is due to the amount of detail that Kate Quinn goes into. At times it became too much but at other times it was necessary. For me this book required more focus at some parts than others so I recommend reading this book when you know you have the time and concentration to do so. This is more of a trigger warning, I am someone who can no longer tolerate violence or gore. There is some in this book so be aware of that if you chose to read it, as you should.

Would I Recommend This Book?

Without a doubt, yes I would recommend this book. I was intrigued by the plot, characters, and writing style. I thank my sister-in-law for recommending it and also letting me borrow her copy. I can't wait to see her soon and discuss my thoughts in person.


Check out my book reviews for 2024!!


Check out my book reviews for 2023!!

Horse by Geraldine Brooks  
Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
Friday Night Lights by H.G. Bissinger
Luckiest Girl Alive by Jessica Knoll
Hester by Laurie Pico Albanese
The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides
Environmental and Sustainability Book Reviews 2022
Self-Improvement Book Reviews 2022
American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins
Know My Name by Chanel Miller
The Paris Apartment by Lucy Foley
Not All Diamonds and Rosé by Dave Quinn
The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
Golden Girl by Elin Hilderbrand
Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus
Everything I Know About Love by Dolly Alderton
A Flicker in the Dark by Stacy Willingham 
Girls With Bright Futures by Tracy Dobmeier and Wendy Katzman
Run, Rose, Run by James Patterson and Dolly Parton
The Summer Series by Jenny Han
A Stolen Life: A Memoir by Jaycee Dugard
The Housewives: The Real Story Behind the Real Housewives by Brian Moylan
Verity by Colleen Hoover
All Rhodes Lead Here by Mariana Zapata
Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid
Our Country Friends by Gary Shteyngart 
Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi
Majesty: American Royals 2 by Kathrine McGree
Every Last Secret by A.R. Torre

Check out my book reviews for 2021!!

2021 Book Rankings

Beach Read By Emily Henry
People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry
Maybe In Another Life by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Educated by Tara Westover
The Simple Wild by K.A. Tucker
The Midnight Library by Matt Haig 
The Kitchen Front by Jennifer Ryan
Daisy Jones and the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid
A Slow Fire Burning by Paula Hawkins 
We Are the Brennans by Tracey Lange
Daisy Jones and the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid
A Slow Fire Burning by Paula Hawkins 
We Are the Brennans by Tracey Lange
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Klara and the Sun 
The Nature of Fragile Things by Susan Meissner
American Duchess by Karen Harper 
Detransition, Baby by Torrey Peters
Girl With No Job by Claudia Oshry
Down the Habit Hole by Holly Madison Book Review
My Story by Elizabeth Smart
Layla by Colleen Hoover

Check out my book reviews for 2020!!

Check out my book reviews for 2019!!

Check out my book reviews from 2018!!


Don't forget to stay up to date on my blog by following my social media accounts!
Instagram: @whenishouldbestudying




Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Reasonable Dorm Room Cleaning Schedule

Reasonable Dorm Room Cleaning Schedule After my first semester of college I have developed a cleaning routine that I have been able to keep up with. You can read my previous blog post about What I Learned In My First Semester of College . Over the past few months I have experimented and I am confident in the routine that I have created.  Personalize When it comes to personalizing the schedule you could add or take out the different chores. For example I also wash my retainers weekly and monthly my roommate and I decorate the marker board on the outside of our door. We also only clean our mirrors when needed since we have found that they do not seem to become too dirty regularly. Something that I would make sure you sanitize every week would be the surfaces that you are constantly touching. That means light switches, door handles, and your desk. By doing this I managed to avoid getting sick when my roommate and other floor mates go sick. Another task that you could add ...

Bullet Journal Fitness and Workout Spread Ideas

If you want to purchase some of these spreads you can buy the digital bundle from my Etsy shop: Simply Paperless .  I had created six different bullet journal fitness and workout trackers/spreads. These spreads were made in my digital bullet journal using the GoodNotes App.   I highly recommend to use a stylus when using GoodNotes as a digital bullet journal. For this project I used the Adonit Dash 3 Stylus , which I highly recommend. I also recommend the Bargain Depot Stylus 2 Pack  from Amazon. Daily Workout Plan This first spread can be used to plan out what exercises you plan to workout each day of the week. I would recommend this spread for those who are just starting to workout. I did not created the workout that is used as the example for the content of this spread. The workout is from Pintrest Workout Plan .  Workout Tracker This next tracker is in the format of a monthly calendar. In order to track the different workouts...

Puppy and Pet Bullet Journal Planner Spread Ideas

2022 Update: If you are interested in having your own Puppy/Dog Pet Planner you can purchase these spreads along with other ones in my Etsy shop Simply Paperless Digital Puppy/Dog Pet Planner . I would like to officially announce that a puppy has been added to my family. This past weekend my sister adopted a soft coated Wheaten Terrier. His name is Bear because he looks like a bear/teddy bear. Growing up my Grandparents, family members and friends had dogs, but we always had cats or flying squirrels. My twin sister and I always wanted a dog, her more than me. After living in on our own for almost a year she finally made the decision to buy one. The summer was the perfect time to get him because we would have time to train him and get used to living with him before we started junior year of college. Now that I have said all of that lets get into the planner portion of this blog post. Today I will be sharing tracker spreads that are perfect for tracking anything and everything in...