The Alice Network by Kate Quinn

I listened to the unabridged audio version of The Alice Network by Kate Quinn and narrated by Saskia Maarleveld. 

Listening time for The Alice Network by Kate Quinn is 15 hours, 6 minutes.

I am a fan of historical fiction novels, so I eagerly downloaded The Alice Network by Kate Quinn and began listening to this novel. 

I was hoping that The Alice Network by Kate Quinn was going to be an excellent read, especially with all the wonderful ratings of it I discovered on Amazon's website. However, I felt that the The Alice Network overall was a slow read the first half to two-thirds of it before it picked up the pace.

I also enjoyed listening to Saskia Maarleveld narrate The Alice Network by Kate Quinn.

I enjoyed the premise of The Alice Network along with chapters  alternating between the viewpoints of the two leading female characters, Charlie St. Clair and Eve Gardiner. Each chapter weaves the past and present until the time line converges into the current time line set in the novel. I did find the story line for The Alice Network to be a bit predictable for the most part. But there were a few surprises, which was pleasant to discover. A couple of the scenes seemed far fetched, but I'll chalk it up to creative license. 

I found it a tad annoying that the discussion/reference of girls being easy/sluts if they slept around and became pregnant prior to marriage in various parts of the novel early on because it seemed to be brought up a quite a few times. Fine make the point that this how people felt during this time period, but move on! Instead, the topic seemed to surface during the first half (roughly) of the novel. I also disliked that Charlie kept repeatedly referring to her pregnancy as her 'little problem' throughout the early part of the novel... Again, I found it really annoying to keep hearing this phrase a lot during (roughly) the first half of the novel.

The Alice Network by Kate Quinn is overall a decent read. By the end of The Alice Network, I did like it, but it was not a novel I loved. It wouldn't be a novel that I would highly recommend.

The following is a plot summary for The Alice Network by Kate Quinn from Amazon:

In an enthralling new historical novel from national best-selling 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.

It's 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.

It's 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.

I am giving The Alice Network by Kate Quinn a rating of 3 stars out of 5 stars.

Until my next post, happy reading!!