My Thoughts on "The Alice Network" and Book Discussion Questions

You know that feeling when you've been a fan of something for years, and everyone else is just now starting to catch on, and it gives you a grand sense of superiority, like you've been in on a secret for ages?  That's how I feel about Kate Quinn.  I discovered her books randomly years ago (around 2010/2011-ish) when she just had a few books out for her Empress of Rome series.  The books were complex, insightful and captured stories of epic proportions in just a few hundred pages (while books like Les Miserables require over 1,400 pages for equally epic stories).  In 2013, I dragged my best friend to a book signing in Baltimore where Kate publicized her new book, the first of two about the infamous Borgia clan.  Let me tell you, Kate was absolutely delightful!  The signing was in an incredibly small bookstore called The Ivy with maybe two dozen chairs set up.  She sat amongst us, answered questions and even did a reading from her book (for those of you who are wondering, it was The Serpent and the Pearl).  When she signed books, she had a conversation with each person and wrote them a personalized little message in their book based on their conversation (mine was how to pronounce the name of a character from Mistress of Rome, while my best friend's was something about bears, I don't remember what).  I kept up with Kate's books, although after her two books about the Borgia clan (which I'll admit that I own but haven't read yet...please don't hate me!), things seemed to slow down for her for a year or two.  That wait was well worth it though, because Kate jumped from from ancient and Renaissance history to tackling more modern history while still creating amazing characters and sweeping sagas that draw in readers.

My signed copy of Mistress of Rome by Kate Quinn.

My mom has known about my love for Kate Quinn's books for years, and used this to her advantage to get me to join her neighborhood book club (remember, I'm already in her other book club, which she got me to join because they read one of her favorite books).  When the neighborhood book club chose The Alice Network for their next book, she knew it would be incredibly difficult for me to refuse to go.  Unfortunately, she was right, isn't that the worst?  I'd been wanting to read The Alice Network for a while, but I hadn't gotten around to it yet, but now I was out of excuses.  With enthusiasm, I jumped right into the compelling and powerful tale of redemption and women fighting for what's right.

The Alice Network is a dual timeline story, but it's different from other dual timeline books.  Instead, some of the same characters appear in both timeline, particularly Eve Gardiner.  In one timeline, Eve is a British woman during World War I.  In her attempt to help fight against the Germans, she agrees to join the Alice Network, a collection of spies scattered across Western Europe gathering information about the Germans to pass along to British intelligence.  It follows her powerful and frightening journey as she tries to hide in plan site as a waitress at a local cafe in German-occupied France where German soldier frequent.  The second timeline takes place shortly after World War II.  Charlie St. Clair is an American girl traveling through Europe to Switzerland to take care of her "Little Problem".  Charlie, however, has ulterior motives, as she is in Europe to find out what happened to her beloved cousin, Rose, during the turmoil that was World War II.  The only clue she has is Eve's name, which is how the two timeline merge into one eventually.  Eve is forced to face the demons of her past as a spy while simultaneously trying to help Charlie find her cousin and reconcile with the damage done to Europe during World War II.

As always, it's difficult to talk about books I've read without spoilers.  If you haven't read the book or want to avoid spoilers in case you do end up reading the book in the future, this is where I leave you.  If you want to know my thoughts about what happened or want to see the discussion questions I created for book club, please feel free to keep reading.

First of all, wow!  I had a feeling that Rose was dead, but part of me was still absolutely shocked to find out how she died.  It was absolutely brutal.  I've studied Nazi Germany extensively for quite some time, but it was still difficult to read about how the entire town was slaughtered to send a message.  Part of me wanted Rose to be alive so she and Charlie could go on to have a happy ending.  In a way, however, Charlie did get her happy ending with Finn, but it wasn't the ending I had planned for her.  On the other hand, I am thrilled that Eve was able to reconcile with her past.  She had incredible guilt gnawing away at her over the false belief that she betrayed her beloved Alice, resulting in their incarceration and Alice's subsequent death.

Now, about Alice's death.  I knew she was going to die, there was no way she could survive the war.  On the other hand, I thought that it was absolutely awful for her to die the way she did.  It was a completely preventable death.  I really did think she was going to die by a firing squad.  I was also caught off guard by how Eve broke her fingers.  I definitely didn't imagine Rene doing the deed, I never pictured him as one to get his hands dirty, I always imagined that the Germans did it to her.  Either way, I found that chapter absolutely brutal and incredibly difficult to read.  Part of me wanted to skip it, but I powered through and finished it.  The entire time, I was uncomfortable and only wanted to get it over with, much like Eve probably did.

While doing a little bit of research for this blog post, I came across something that completely threw my perceptions of the book into a tailspin: Alice Dubois was a real person!  I know, I'm just as surprised as you are.

Photograph of Alice Dubois courtesy of the Western Front Society

I'm still reeling from the fact that Alice was in fact a real person.  Part of me wishes I had known that before I started reading, as I would have approached Alice's character completely differently and appreciated her far more (not to say I didn't appreciate her in the first place).  It also makes sense as to why Alice died the way she did; fact is often stranger than fiction when it comes to history.  I did reach out to Kate Quinn on Twitter and asked her if Alice had been a character she created entirely on her own, would she have changed what happened to her at the end.  As of right now, she hasn't responded, but I will tell you that she is incredibly active on both Twitter and Goodreads, so hopefully I'll hear back from her soon.  As soon as I do, I'll be sure to update this post with her answer.

Update: Kate Quinn did get back to me about what she would change about Alice's character and what happened to her if she hadn't been a real person.  She said she probably would have changed her fate a little.  You can see our brief Twitter exchange below.

My Twitter conversation with Kate Quinn about Alice Dubois' fate in the end of The Alice Network.

Since this is a book I read for book club, I do have a series of questions I created.  This book is a part of Reese Witherspoon's book club, so you might already have questions printed in the back.  These are questions I came up with on my own (as always).  I try to avoid the discussion questions in the back of the book, especially while I'm reading the book, since it might reveal some spoilers.  Please feel free to use these questions for your book club or just to reflect on the book after you've finished reading it.

1. Would Eve and Charlie's strong personalities stand out so much in the 21st century?
2. Do you think Eve succeeded so much as a spy because she had the skills or because, as a woman, she had more to prove and therefore worked harder?
3. Do you think Eve's stutter contributed to her desire for perfection as a spy?
4. Why do you think Charlie didn't tell Eve she was pregnant?
5. When Eve says, "It's the wicked who go on merrily" living, was she talking about herself or Rene?
6. How did Charlie's pregnancy contribute to the story?
7. Why do you think Eve had such a sudden change of heart about helping Charlie after Charlie's mother showed up?
8. Do you think Charlie would have made a good spy?
9. Charlie's mom told her, "Get B's at Bennington until you can hook a nice young lawyer."  What does that tell you about Charlie and her mother's different priorities?
10. In what ways was this a story of redemption?
11. Do you think Alice's death was an accident or intentional?
12. How did Eve contribute to Rene becoming more ruthless from World War I to World War II?
13. Was Rene really a collaborator or was he a capitalist trying to survive the war?
14. How does the fact that Alice Dubois was a real person change your perception of the story?