Set in 1947, The Alice Network is the story of Charlotte (or Charlie) an American woman desperately seeking her French cousin (Rose) who disappeared during the war. Her one clue is the names Eve Gardiner, Rene, and Le Lethe.
Well Eve turns out to be an old drunk with damaged hands, a poor temper, and the owner of a Luger, which she aims square between Charlotte’s eyes.
Rene is a profiteering monster who ran Le Lethe, a restaurant in Lille frequented by the Germans during the Great War.
Eve worked as a spy for England and had perfect French and German. She infiltrated the restaurant as a stuttering French waitress and managed to pass a number of excellent secrets to the head of the Alice Network, Louise de Bettignies (alias Alice Dubois).
The novel is historical fictional, with Eve, Charlotte and Rene being the imagined characters. But the Alice Network was real, as was Louise de Bettignies, the Queen of Spies, who ran a WWI network of spies in an area of France near Lille. She was formidable.
The novel is great, as is the author’s note pointing out the many stories in the novel that are based on real stories of female spies during the Great War, their trial records, and personal accounts.
Published by HarperCollins Canada
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