by Cathryn Conroy (Gaithersburg, Maryland): Wow! What a book! This is a stunning, page-turner about daring, courageous women made of inner steel who, against all odds, successfully spied on the Germans in World War I…until they were caught. This is a pressure-cooker of a novel that just builds and builds and builds until the explosive ending.
Written by Kate Quinn, this is a historical fiction-ChickLit combo that is unputdownable. OK, the early chapters are a little slow to get going, but this is where the story foundations are laid, so it's all essential. Just keep reading.
The story is told in two timelines that eventually merge: • It's May 1915, and 22-year-old Evelyn Gardiner of London is recruited to join an elite network of women spies in France: The Alice Network. After training, she moves to Lille where she gets a job as a waitress at a posh restaurant run by a war profiteer/traitor who caters to the German generals and their high-level staff. Eve, whose code name is Marguerite, assumes a whole new personality of an innocent and somewhat stupid French country girl, never letting on that she is fluent in English and German. As she is pouring wine and clearing plates, she listens to the conversations, which sometimes include war plans. All is going amazingly well until the nefarious owner of the restaurant, René Bordelon, decides to take Marguerite as his lover. How can she refuse?
• It's May 1947, and Charlotte St. Clair, nicknamed Charlie, is a 19-year-old Bennington College student who falls apart emotionally after her brother's suicide following his return from World War II. No longer caring about anything, she takes a series of lovers—all sordid backseat trysts with many different fraternity boys—and soon enough finds herself pregnant and unable to name the father. Not that that would matter since she was never in love with any of them. Her wealthy parents are appalled, outraged, and determine to rid her of her Little Problem with a discreet mother-daughter trip to a clinic in Vevey, Switzerland. They sail to Southampton where Charlie makes a break from her unsuspecting mother, determined to find out what happened to her beloved French cousin Rose, who was a refugee during the war. Three years earlier, her letters suddenly ceased, and still no one in the family knows what happened or seems to have any inclination to find out. But Charlie has a London address of a woman who may know something. That woman is Eve. And when Charlie knocks on Eve's door late one rainy night and is met with a crazed, drunken woman pointing a loaded Lugar pistol at her face, life changes irrevocably for both. Added to this duo is Mr. Finn Kilgore, a Scottish ex-convict whom Eve has hired to serve as her chauffeur and cook. (The description of his one-pan Scottish breakfast will make you head to your kitchen to replicate it!)
The plot in both timelines is riveting with each chapter ending in a page-turning cliffhanger. But the timeline chapters alternate, so you must wait to find out what happens. This is tricky storytelling. In the hands of a less talented author, the reader could be confused, bored, or just stop caring, but the opposite happens in Kate Quinn's hands. Instead, I devoured this book—anxiously wanting to find out what happens, but also not wanting it to end.
The novel is based on fact. While Eve, Charlie, and Finn are fictional, the bones of the story are all based on real people and real events. Do read the Author's Note at the end to find out what is fact and what is fiction. So much of this book is (surprisingly) true! You'll learn a lot of World War I history just by reading it.
Do know this: There are several scenes of torture and brutality that I found difficult to read and could be impossible for some to handle. They are not gratuitous and are essential to the story, but that doesn't make it any easier.
Simmering with tension and populated with vibrant and distinctive characters, this is a richly imagined novel that is packed with historical details. Highly recommended.
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