If you love history, spies and badass ladies this novel is for you.

Set in World War I and the end of World War II this book takes readers on a journey into the intricate, dangerous world of female spies.

The Alice Network switches timelines and perspectives chapter by chapter focusing on Eve Gardiner a spy in World War I and Charlie St Clair a young American girl on the hunt for a missing cousin. Their paths cross in Charlie’s timeline when Eve is an old woman who has some leftover scars from her time as a spy. The two women work together to uncover not only the mystery of Charlie’s cousin but the truth of Eve’s past as well.

I was drawn to this book because I’d read Kate Quinn’s other books which I especially enjoyed. Daughters of Rome focused on the bonds between women and had a fun, gossipy tone to the writing.

The Alice Network had similarly engaging characters. Eve was cunning and ruthless packaged into a young, pretty woman. Charlie defied the social conventions of her day to keep a baby she had conceived out of wedlock. Both women were struggling with different demons but it was an ingenious move from Quinn to have their stories intertwine instead of keeping them separate.

This was a fun beach read steeped in historical detail. While I love historical fiction my tastes trend more to French or British History (Marie Antoinette or The Tudors for example) and if it hadn’t been for the author I don’t know if I would have picked this book off the shelf. However, I am super glad I did because it was such a good book. It’s one of those books that you can’t wait to finish and yet you don’t want to finish because then it will be over.

You can find The Alice Network on Amazon or at your local library!