Featuring an exclusive excerpt from Kate Quinn’s next incredible historical novel, THE HUNTRESS
NEW YORK TIMES & USA TODAY BESTSELLER
#1 GLOBE AND MAIL HISTORICAL FICTION BESTSELLER
One of NPR’s Best Books of the Year!
One of Bookbub’s Biggest Historical Fiction Books of the Year!
Reese Witherspoon Book Club Summer Reading Pick!
The Girly Book Club Book of the Year!
A Summer Book … Fiction Books of the Year!
Reese Witherspoon Book Club Summer Reading Pick!
The Girly Book Club Book of the Year!
A Summer Book Pick from Good Housekeeping, Parade, Library Journal, Goodreads, Liz and Lisa, and BookBub
In an enthralling new historical novel from national bestselling author Kate Quinn, two women—a female spy recruited to the real-life Alice Network in France during World War I and an unconventional American socialite searching for her cousin in 1947—are brought together in a mesmerizing story of courage and redemption.
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.
“Both funny and heartbreaking, this epic journey of two courageous women is an unforgettable tale of little-known wartime glory and sacrifice. Quinn knocks it out of the park with this spectacular book!”—Stephanie Dray, New York Times bestselling author of America’s First Daughter
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I had heard wonderful things about this book from other authors, so I had to sit down and read it. Oh, my, gosh. READ this book. It is fascinating and an amazing story–I loved both the heroines –Eve and Charlie. Their stories and lives and how they ended up tangled together was amazing. The story of a real spy network that began in World War I and continued into World War II, and how a young American using those connections to try and find her lost French cousin, will keep you turning pages. This is a great book.
Omg. What can I say? I LOVED this book. It has everything. A female spy in WW1, a young woman going against society’s rules after WW2. Both women had compelling stories. Throw in the history of France during the world wars and I’m beyond hooked. The redemption of a tragic heroine was just the icing on the cake. I only wish I could write like this.
Now I’m on to the Huntress (her next book)!
I love historical fiction that takes material from true events. The Alice Network was an actual organization and many of the characters and events portrayed really happened.
This was a really good read. I cared about Charlie and The Little Problem and kept turning the pages faster and faster to find out what happened to them. Eve was a fantastic character: her story was the backbone of the book, and I rooted for her until the end.
I have been a fan of fellow author Kate Quinn since I first read “Mistress of Rome.” She is a born storyteller and has made the jump from ancient times to the twentieth century with the ease of a leaping panther. You will love this book with all its surprises and suspense and fascinating characters, and making the journey back into our near-past, which is still in living memory but receding fast. Simply, a great read as well as instructive.
This book lingers with you. That’s how you know the story is good. The characters are unforgettable, the plot is twisted and stunning, and the historical detail is compelling. A perfect read.
An excellent novel about the tragedies from one war reverberating in the next one. Beautifully written and plotted, with many surprises. You won’t be disappointed!
“The Alice Network” is the first book by Kate Quinn that I’ve read. I was already into a good book when it arrived, but I thought I would give it a chapter or two. Well, I was hooked and read it right through to its smashing end. Take two strong women, two World Wars, spies, villains, and a rich collection of supporting characters and you have the recipe for a great page-turner. Brava! It won’t be my last novel by Kate Quinn.
The Alice Network offers a wonderful new twist on a much written-about subject. I’ve read countless books about the world wars, but this story is tragically unique, and the characters unexpectedly flawed. You don’t warm to them at once, but once you do, you end up rooting for them until the very last page and hope for a happily every after despite the odds.
A clever and compelling weaving of two time periods with the link of one woman, telling the role of women spies in WW I and how that life in the shadows cast darkness several generations later…and yet THE ALICE NETWORK had its hilarious moments. If you’ve always wondered “what were the women doing?” in a crucial period of European turmoil, the story of the unsung role of women spies who risked all for their country is truly inspiring.
Little to say about The Alice Network that hasn’t already been said. It deserves all the applause and accolades. Haunting, gripping, clever and brilliantly written. One of those books I wish I hadn’t read yet, so that I had the pleasure of discovering it all over again.
I absolutely loved this one. Filled with daring and intrigue, The Alice Network took me on an unforgettable journey filled with fascinating characters. I highly recommend this book for historical fiction lovers.
Kate Quinn is the author of historical fiction the majority of her work set in Roman times. The Alice Network, however, moves effortlessly between 1915 and 1947.
The main characters, Eve Gardiner, Charlotte (Charlie) St Clair and Finn Kilgore are unlikely travelling companions, each dealing with their own torments. The reader joins them on their journey and experiences into a gripping read.
A work of fiction based on real people and events it focuses on the interaction of the main characters who are thrown together in two aspects. Their search for a woman and a child, missing since 1944, and the network of women in intelligence work during WWI and WWII. These events are skilfulling woven together and come to a dramatic conclusion the result of which is a compelling story.
If you’re looking for a book you can’t put down ”The Alice Network” will not disappoint.
Hats off to Kate Quinn. Highly recommended!
This a book about a gutsy female spy in German-occupied France. Personally, I have become a little weary of war stories of all kinds, but the characters in this book are so well-drawn and sympathetic that they drew me in and kept me there, and the story moves back and forth between the war period and a later time when the characters are looking for individuals who went missing during the war years, and that adds to the story’s appeal as well.
Strong women characters. Absolutely loved it.
So many things at once, including a rip-roaring spy novel, entertaining romance, much-needed history lesson on the real-life Alice Network of WWI, and so much more. Quinn knocks it out of the park with this dual-timeline story and shows the full breadth of what the best historical fiction can do.
I admit, I put off reading this one for a while because, after The Nightingale, I couldn’t imagine another historical novel set in German-occupied France being as compelling. I was wrong.
Although this is not a sister saga like TN (which, I admit, added a certain layer of emotional pull that this story did not share), this one had other things working in its favor. The dual timeline, the mystery of what happened to Eve’s hands and the network, the question of whether Rose was still alive, and even a little romance for brave (if somewhat foolhardy) Charlie.
I found myself thumbing through the virtual pages quite quickly, intrigued, heartbroken, anxious…oh, quite a ride. I totally see why it’s been on the NYT list for so many weeks. Well worth the time to read, although I do admit, when I finally read the scene that described the torture Eve suffered, it was brutally graphic to the point of making my stomach hurt. Maybe for some it wouldn’t be that bad…but for me, well, I don’t want to spoil too much. I do think, however, it was necessary to take the reader there to better understand Eve.
This book is so many things. A story of unlikely friendships, of heroism and courage, and of love and family. Don’t miss it.
Need a box of tissues…
Every time I tell myself I will never read another book about the horrors of war, I find a story like “The Alice Network.” Perhaps stories like these should be required reading — how else will we develop enough empathy to never allow our world to come to this again?
I listened to this on audio, and the narrator sounds like a whole cast of characters, accents and all, and the story pulled me along so hard I actually want to run errands so I could get a few more minutes of it!
This book was such a riveting read. The fact that it was based on true events made it even more intriguing. I loved getting to know the characters. Charlie and Eve were so fascinating and their stories spell binding. Highly recommended.