Author
Kate Quinn reveals a picture of German domination in France during
WW1 from the standpoint of certain French women who could have been
named “audacious” and “courageous.” Traders in death.
Unconditionally loyal in their niche way to try to defeat the Kaiser.
On
a dramatic scale, “The Alice Network” is the wartime account of
three female volunteers spying on German officers deployed in a
medium sized French town and networking numerous other embedded spies
into a coordinated force against Germany. It's a seesaw balancing the
collection of strategic secret information with the potential to save
lives with the other alternative: getting caught and shot by a firing
squad.
A
key plot plays the middle between a greedy French businessman and his
German officer customers. It's about putting aside personal safety
and Victorian morals for the sake of duty, fighting fire with every
gun and wile in the arsenal.
A
nicely done secondary plot explores a 1947 American character who
inserts herself in a tangential story about personalities who spanned
both WW1 and WW2 who worked toward the same end in both wars to
defeat Germany.
How
did “The Alice Network” make me feel? I felt a comradeship with
common ordinary people who were sacrificing to save the lives of
their French, British, and Belgian countrymen. I felt sympathy for
the female main characters who gave up years of their health, their
esteem, and their lives to join the cause, and I felt theirs was a
mission of hope for all the women whose lives were diverted by both
wars.
There's
a lesson in this novel, and I think it has an enormous value to the
world: When you and your loved ones bump up against the specter of
eradication and sure death, your world depends on every ounce of you
to engage. Your participation might save you, but inaction will
probably leave you to die on a faded page with your footnotes all
blown away. There is a circumstance where survival is everything only
if you're capable of survival. You must go with Alice.
Fiction
built on a pedestal of history. My kind of novel.
Ed
Slater
2 comments:
An underlying theme in The Alice Network is how society viewed (views?) the value of women. Women were thought incapable of performing such a demanding role as spying. Women were assumed to lack the intelligence, worldliness, cunning, courage, and intestinal fortitude to function successfully as a spy. That is one reason why the Alice Network was so successful. The Germans could not conceive of how a lowly waitress could be fluent in multiple languages plus be a spy. Only a few, such as Major Cameron, could envision how women could be successful spies. Tragically, the most strategic piece of information the Alice Network uncovered was not believed by the British high command, resulting in heavy casualties. Perhaps this was due to their lack of esteem for women. Likewise, Charlie, a mere under aged female college student was believed incapable of managing her own money, much less in tracking the disappearance of her cousin.
Another age-old paradox vividly portrays women as being responsible for out-of-wedlock pregnancies, and thus are shunned by society. Doesn't conception require both a male and a female? This tenant goes to the root of societal prejudice against women. Charlie's parents represent society, impressed only with outward appearances. Eve sought an abortion because her career as a spy would have been ruined if she had revealed her pregnancy. Ultimately, women are proven to be the heroines and proven to be stronger than their weak male counterparts. For example, Rene could not conceive of women being a serious threat to his status, much less his life. Eve, though she drowned herself in self-pity for 30 years, had more courage than Major Cameron who could not face the outcomes of his decisions, even though they were right considering the circumstances of the times and of not doing everything possible to build his spy network.
The story is so intense that the humor the author injects provides some comic relief to the pressure. My favorite line is when Eve tells Rene that he picked the wrong side because "the Germans always lose". Also, Finn's love affair with his precious Lagonda and the attributes Charlie assigned to he fictitous husband are quite humorous. It is ironic that Eve almost shot Finn's ear off when they first met and then Eve actually shot Rene's ear off when she first tried to kill him.
There are many more examples of humor and women's demeaning role in society throughout the story that enforce these undercurrents. All in all, the Alice Network is thought provoking, exciting, humorous, and tragic all at the same time and well worth your investment to read.
Lloyd
I wondered if Kate Quinn wrote other novels of "women's advocacy". After checking out her other writing, I figured it out. Yes...big time.
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